Learning curve
by LunarLacrimosa
Summary: Trent is failing math and Miles is selected as his tutor. The jock and a scrawny little tree climber put together? Not even they saw becoming friends. Both boys get closer and closer, and things get even more surprising when Trent's truck is replaced with an Autobot. Miles is sensitive to Cybertronians, and Trent is oblivious. Then they find out the truth. Trent/Miles, Bee/Sam
1. Chapter 1

**AN: **I should really be working on other stuff... but I had another idea. ;_; Review and tell me your thoughts! (and yes, they will learn about the Cybertronians, but not yet.)

* * *

Miles stared listlessly out of the window of his math class, daydreaming. His first period class, and he was already bored out of his mind. He'd finished his worksheet already, and what else was there to do? He had a perfect view of the parking lot, and he spotted that familiar bright yellow paint job with black stripes, Sam's Camaro. That gave him somewhere to direct his thoughts to.

Even if he texted Sam he was unlikely to get a response. Ever since the previous school year, they'd been drifting farther and farther apart. Miles knew something big had happened and changed his friend, but not what. He had gotten the car, gotten the girl, and then all Miles knew was he'd been there during Mission City. His car had been damaged and he was reimbursed with a new, better one. Miles also knew that Mission City incident was a government cover up, and whatever he thought he knew about it wasn't true. Sam and Mikaela knew the truth, but neither could tell. The one time he had asked Sam had nearly had a fit.

And then there was Mikaela. He'd never really liked the girl, never really had anything against her, either. His comments stemmed from the brotherly protectiveness he felt towards Sam, since Sam had been head over heels for her since Elementary school. He was pretty sure she hadn't even known Sam's name until last year, but they had been together all through summer and a week into the school year. They had broken it off, but still remained as close as ever.

That was something that annoyed Miles. They weren't even together anymore, and Sam still went out of his way to spend time with her, ignoring any plans he and Miles might have made. Sure, he hung out with the both of them, but not as frequently as he would like to, and there was just so many little inside things between the two. Half the conversation he was left out, like he was never there in the first place. It was just easier to leave them both alone.

"Miles?" The teacher's voice snapped Miles out of his thoughts, and he looked up at his desk sheepishly.

"Yes, Mr. Ruben?" Miles asked, before being gestured up to Mr. Ruben's desk.

Mr. Ruben smiled, "I've been looking at the grades so far this year, and you've been doing remarkably well."

"Thank you, sir." Miles said politely, "Now what's the point to all this?"

"Smart boy," Mr. Ruben laughed, "I was wondering if you had time to take on being a tutor. One of our star football players is having trouble in his math class. He's in your grade, so you might know him. His name is Trent DeMarco."

"I know him by name only, but if he's that bad off then I can tutor him." Miles replied.

"Excellent!" Mr. Ruben was a little too cheerful, and Miles wondered how many good math students had said no from fear of the jock. "Your lunch periods are the same, so I'll give you a pass and you can both meet in the library."

"Okay."

Miles half wondered if he should think about how Sam would feel about him tutoring the jock. Then he realized that he didn't really care. He knew Sam, and was fairly certain that any rivalry between the two was all in Sam's imagination. He doubted Trent even knew his name, and Sam's only because he had stolen Mikaela away from the jock.

* * *

Miles made it to the library a little early, he'd asked to go to his locker and his study hall teacher had just let him out a few minutes early. Wonderful. Now he had to sit and wait for the jock.

He took the time to think about what he actually knew about Trent. He had dated Mikaela, though for how long he wasn't sure. He was one of the most popular kids in school, always in some social clique or another. He was on the football team, though what position he played Miles didn't know. Now he knew that the jock apparently sucked at math.

Miles remembered the incident at the park clearly, and while it looked like Trent had started it with his 'how to suck at sports?' question, he wasn't so sure. It hadn't held any malice behind it, like it could have just been light teasing or meant to be a joke, and Sam had reacted badly. And it wasn't that much of a surprise with Trent reacting the way he did to what Sam had said.

Trent's teacher had given him a folder with a copy of all the tests and work he'd turned in, as well as a system report on his grades. He had glanced over it, and nearly cried at how horrible Trent was. He knew the teen needed help, badly, but he was a bit wary about tutoring him. Trent was a jock and he wasn't. Compared to Trent he was a scrawny little nerd, a nobody.

"Lancaster, right?" Trent asked by way of greeting, letting his books hit the table with a loud slam that made Miles flinch.

"Yeah, I know you already." Miles replied politely, eyeing the jock warily. He wasn't sure what to expect.

Trent glanced him over, frowning. "You're Witwacky's friend."

"One: it's Wit_wicky_," Miles enunciated carefully, "Two: we're here to talk about the class you're failing, not Sam."

"I'm not failing."

Miles took out the folder he had been given by Trent's math teacher. He showed Trent his current grade, which was indeed an F.

"Oh." Trent groaned, "God, I'm so screwed. M'dad's gonna kill me if I fail."

Miles watched Trent sit down heavily, putting his head in his hands. He could tell the other teen was fairly distressed by how bad his grade was.

"When's your next test?"

"Friday."

Well, that didn't give Miles much to work with. It was Monday now, and Trent's test was less than five days away. Miles took back the folder, and glanced at the teacher's notes, looking over what the next test was on. He'd already covered that in his class, but then again he was in the AP version of it, and not the academic like Trent.

"Wanna come over tonight?" Miles asked, closing the folder again. "It'll be easier than both of us skipping lunch and being hungry in the rest of our classes, not to mention lunch is so short. I can tutor you at my house, or yours, whichever's easiest."

"Yours." Trent didn't sound enthusiastic. Rather like he'd already lost all hope.

"Okay," Miles nodded, scribbling his address down on a piece of paper. "What time?"

"How do you get home?"

"Bus."

"What, Witwa-" At Miles pointed look, Trent changed his pronunciation. "Witwicky doesn't give you a ride home?"

"No." A little curt, but Miles didn't want to talk about Sam to Trent.

"Then I'll give you a ride home. What's your number?"

Miles gave it to him, and put Trent's in his contacts. He was rather happy with how easily Trent had given in on calling Sam Witwacky. Then again, he might have really thought it was Witwacky, but he doubted it. Miles had to hold back a smirk; it looks like the jock really was desperate if he was going to listen to what a scrawny little nerd said. That gave him some confidence.

* * *

Miles hoisted his backpack on his shoulder, and looked around for Trent. He spotted the jock by his beloved truck, talking to his friends. He sighed, he knew better than to go over there, and all the buses had already left. He didn't feel like waiting for the jock, and a glance around spotted Sam and Mikaela leaning against the black and yellow Camaro. He walked over to them.

"Hey, buddy," Sam said in surprise, "Missed your bus? I can give you a ride home."

Miles eyed the car Sam and Mikaela were resting on. He'd never felt comfortable in Sam's first Camaro, and he'd chocked it up to it looking like a death trap. But he didn't feel comfortable in his knew Camaro, either. He always got the strange sense he was being watched, and the radio always acted up. He knew it was insane, but half the time he thought it was responding to their conversations.

"No, thanks. I got a ride, but they're busy so I'm waiting."

"With who?" Mikaela asked curiously, flashing Miles a smile.

"I got stuck tutoring someone 'cuz they're failing math, so we're going to my house."

Sam laughed, "Did you warn them about your mom?"

"His mom?" Mikaela frowned, close to a pout. "I haven't met her yet."

"Good," Miles said, "Because she'd have you tied to a chair and have enough food for an entire third world country shoved down your throat in five minutes."

A buzz drew his attention, and he took out his phone. A text from Trent, telling him to 'hurry the fuck up'. He rolled his eyes.

"Sorry, duty calls. See you tomorrow!"

* * *

Miles unlocked the door, stepping inside and holding it open for Trent. Or he was until he was tackled by one hundred plus pounds of hyper Mastiff, happy to see him again. Trent raised an eyebrow, but he was clearly amused.

"Sorry," Miles grumbled, shoving the dog off. "This is our dog, Mason."

Mason barked at his name, going and sniffing at Trent while Miles picked himself up. Trent grinned, patting the large dog's head.

"Oh, who's this?"

Both teen's looked up at the voice to see a woman poking her head around a corner before coming into view, wiping her hands on an apron. She looked to be in her 60s, and Trent assumed her to be Miles' Grandmother.

She smiled at Trent, "Miles didn't tell us he was bringing any of his little friends over. I'm Miles' mother."

"I'm Trent DeMarco, ma'am." Trent replied automatically, looking between Miles and his mother a few times in surprise.

"Oh, how polite." Elizabeth laughed, "Just call me Mama Lizzy, hun. Will you be staying for dinner?"

"I-"

"Wonderful! I'll set an extra place at the table."

Miles snorted at Trent's expression, and headed for the stairs. "Don't let her bully you into staying for dinner if you don't want to."

"I don't care, it's just…" Trent trailed off, following Miles into his room.

"I'm adopted." Miles said with some amusement, dropping his backpack on his bed. Trent's reaction was about the same as everyone else's who had met his parents. They assumed they were his grandparents, and then were floored when it turned out to be his parents.

"Oh." Trent replied, glancing around his room while Miles got out his math stuff.

Trent wasn't sure what he was expecting Miles to have in his room, had no idea what the teen might even be into, so he couldn't stop himself from looking. A skateboard in the corner next to a pair of roller skates, a large dog bed with some toys in it, a TV at the foot of his bed, a desk with a laptop on it, a dresser, a nightstand, and a closet. The TV was on, but muted, and Trent didn't recognize what was on right off hand.

"Let's get started." Miles said, and Trent sat at the desk.

An hour and thirty minutes later, and Trent was bored out of his mind. Miles was checking over his work, so he took a glance at the TV. A Victoria Secret commercial caught his eye, and he watched with interest. Up until Miles turned the TV off with his remote, that is.

"I was watching that!" Trent protested.

"If you want to look at scantily clad women do it on your own time," Miles replied, not even looking up from the paper he was reading.

Trent glared, "What does it matter? You're checking my stupid paper anyway, Lancaster."

"If you stopped focusing on big boobs and a great ass maybe you wouldn't be failing math, DeMarco." Miles retorted flippantly, realizing that could be a bad idea only after he said it.

Miles met Trent's glare with his own. He wasn't in the mood for Trent to think he could push him around and waste his time. He was being kind enough to help the jock out; the jock could at least be decent.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Trent asked, a warning in his voice that Miles should back down.

Miles was never really good at backing down, though.

"It means that if you're going to be wasting my time, then leave." Miles said dryly, slapping the paper Trent had been working on down on the desk. "You've barely been paying attention this entire time, and it's really no surprise that you're failing if this is how you act in class. Oh, and stop flexing your muscles, as if _that's_ going to intimidate me. You're about as threatening as a skunk. Get serious about this, or get out."

"Don't press your luck, Lancaster." Trent ground out, but Miles didn't even look fazed.

"What's my first name?"

"It's-"

Trent cut himself off, blinking in surprise. He had absolutely no idea what Miles first name was. In his head all he thought of him as was Lancaster. Trent quickly backpedaled, he knew for a fact his mom had used it when they had talked, but he couldn't remember it at all.

Miles looked smug, "Now, are you actually going to start trying?"

Trent glowered, but nodded. Miles had a point, even if he didn't like it. He really felt like punching that smug look right off his face, but if he did he doubted he'd get help then.

He took the paper back, looking at everything Miles had marked wrong, and sighed, getting to work. The two started up a routine, one that actually worked. At first, Trent was too stubborn to ask for help with anything he found confusing, so when Miles noticed he was struggling he'd help him work it out slowly. He never did the work for Trent; he made him find all the answers on his own. Trent appreciated that whenever he was struggling with a particular thing, Miles would say he'd had trouble with it too. He figured that Miles was lying, but it was nice of him either way.

At seven they were called down for dinner by Miles' mother, and Miles led the way. It was on the stairs that Trent asked.

"So what is it?"

"What is what?" Miles asked, bypassing the last step altogether with a jump.

"Your name."

Miles looked over his shoulder with a smirk, "You'll figure it out someday, _Trent._"

Trent glared at Miles' back as Miles made his way into the kitchen. He really felt like punching the teen to shut that smug mouth of his, and he doubted that would be changing any time soon. He was stuck.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: **Second chapter. Miles finds himself with even more jocks to tutor and ends up scaring the crap out of Trent, Trent retaliates and gets punched in the face. But hey, at least he ends up passing his test.  
**AN2: **If you reread this you might notice I got rid of the list of Miles' classes. Mainly because I don't want to hold him to anything definitive, and because I have him in the upper class, many of which I ignore as I am extremely happy in my middle range classes, and it changes from school to school.

**Reviews:** Thanks to all who reviewed!

**Song:** Out Tonight from RENT. (Miles is geeky enough to like musicals. Or at least RENT)

_**Chapter Two**_

* * *

They had bypassed spending time in the library together completely, and Trent had football practice right after school. That only meant that the jock would be coming late, so late that dinner would already be done. Since it was Tuesday that meant there was only two more days that they could study in, since Trent's math class was before his lunch period. Miles was determined that the jock should pass, even if that meant Trent had to stay a little later than normal, and what if he didn't get his normal amount of sleep, he could live.

His mother, Elizabeth, was more than willing to have Trent over again, even if she wouldn't be talking to him a lot, if at all. His dad, Bob, had complained a bit more, not seeing why it was always Trent coming over. But neither of the Lancaster men could last in an argument against Lizzy.

Miles was in the kitchen, commandeering the table since his mom didn't need the room to cook dinner anymore. His desk was big enough for one, so that had meant he was either standing, leaning, or sitting on his bed while Trent took the chair. Now he could just sit beside the jock.

Dimly, he was aware of the sound of Trent's truck parking in his driveway, then a pause outside the door. The jock was either deciding to knock or just waltz in, because Miles really doubted he was admiring the scenery. A second later and Trent just waltzed in, closing the door behind him and heading straight for where he could see Miles.

"God, do you have any food? I'm starving!"

"Help yourself," Miles replied automatically, grabbing the jock's backpack from where he had slung it on the table and getting out the homework for the night.

Miles was too busy looking over what Trent had and trying to remember where they had left off the night before to pay attention to what the jock got as a snack. For all he cared Trent could whip himself up a full course meal, as long as it didn't get in the way of what he was here for. A quick glance up and he saw that Trent had gone for the pantry, taking out a can of nuts to munch on. Only it was a trap, one Miles had put there himself, but the victim wasn't meant to be Trent.

"Wait, don't-"

He tried to warn the jock, he really did, but he was still too late. Trent pried off the lid without a second thought, only to have the contents of the can explode in his face.

"_**JESUS CHRIST!**_"

Miles had to refrain from wincing at the bellow, did wince when Trent stumbled back and tripped over a chair leg, landing flat on his ass. From upstairs he could hear Mason start barking frantically, apparently just as upset as Trent, and his parents start moving in their room. Miles looked at the mess on the floor, knowing he'd have to clean it up and now it wasn't even worth it.

"What the utter fuck, Lancaster?"

Trent growled the question out between gritted teeth, and that was what made Miles look at him. He probably shouldn't have been surprised that the jock looked ready to kill, because really, what teenage male enjoyed having the wits scared out of him and being made to look like a pansy? Miles opened his mouth to apologize, explain it wasn't meant for him, when his parents made it down the stairs, peering into the kitchen together.

Elizabeth took one look at the mess on her once pristine kitchen floor and sighed. She didn't need to see Trent sitting there or look at Miles' guilty face to know what happened.

"Trent, hunny, are you okay?" Elizabeth asked, because what came first was making sure the poor lad who had ended up in the crossfire of her husband and her son was okay.

"I'm fine, no thanks to this idiot." Trent was glaring at her son, but she couldn't really blame him.

Miles tried to protest, "It wasn't meant for you! I tried to stop you, but you didn't pay attention!"

"Who puts a trick can of nuts in their kitchen? No one's going to think that they should be suspicious of a can of nuts!"

"That's exactly the point, I'm afraid." Elizabeth sighed again, making Miles snap his mouth shut before he could reply to Trent, yet again. "My husband and son are currently in a pranking war, so sorry you got caught up in it, hunny."

Elizabeth flashed him a winning smile, and Trent deflated. He couldn't stay angry when kindhearted Mrs. Lancaster was looking at him that way. He would just make sure Miles paid for it later, anyway.

"S'okay." He mumbled, standing up.

Lizzy's smile grew even more brilliant, years of diffusing hot headed men on her side. "You're hungry, right? Let me just whip you up some cookies!"

"You don't have to go to the tro-"

"Oh, it's no trouble at all, sweetie!"

Lizzy cut Trent off with all the grace of a mother could have, ruffled his hair affectionately, leaned up to peck his cheek, and then brushed past him just so she could move behind him and gently lead him out of the kitchen, giving him an encouraging pat on the back to get upstairs. The jock was too stunned to do anything but go along with it, and soon enough Miles was right behind him with their stuff.

"Sorry," Miles apologized sheepishly, "She'll mom anyone who comes into this house."

And really, there was no further explanation needed. Trent had already seen an example of that yesterday when he had been stuffed to overflowing at dinner. He had the feeling that if he kept coming over for their tutoring sessions he would soon have his own special place at the table and mittens knitted for him when winter started, never mind that it rarely if ever actually got cold in Tranquility.

"I don't mind," Trent said, going into Miles room and sitting at the desk. "My mom works a lot at the hospital, so it's nice."

Miles gave Trent an appraising look, "Don't tell her that, she'll never let you go home."

* * *

Lunch time on Wednesday saw Miles back in the library, but instead of being early this time he was late. Mikaela was on crutches, somehow managing to sprain her ankle badly enough that they'd be needed for a few days. His class before lunch was near hers, so he had just met her at her locker to help her carry her things to her next class. He didn't care if it made him late to lunch or late for a tutor session with Trent. The jock could wait.

When he entered the library he had expected Trent to be impatient, maybe even angry. It wasn't like lunch was that long, and Trent had said he wouldn't be able to make it over later that night. What he hadn't expected was the four other boys sitting with Trent.

Miles walked over and grabbed the only open seat available, wide eyed when four sets of eyes suddenly turned to stare at him.

One of the boys whistled, "He really _is_ tiny!"

Miles wasn't sure if that was an insult or just a statement of a fact. He was at the least a head smaller than everyone else at the table, and he was an average size for a guy. Or at least he had thought so; he'd never really hung out with bigger boys before. Then there was the fact that compared to all of them, Miles was as skinny as a twig, and it wasn't because any of them were fat, either. He wondered if he looked nervous, because he was so out of his element with four jocks staring at him.

"Awe, leave 'im alone!" One of the other boys replied, elbowing the one who had whistled. He then flashed Miles a smile, "M'Scott. This big mouth here is Jason, or JZ, then that's Colin and Nicolas."

Scott was rather plain looking, brown hair with brown eyes. Jason had black hair and green eyes. Colin and Nicolas were both red heads, but Colin had a curly head of hair with brown hazel eyes while Nicolas had his hair cropped short with blue eyes.

"I'm Miles." He rather felt like he was stating the obvious, because he was sure they all probably knew his name, but he wasn't sure if he really wanted to know why there were suddenly four more jocks for him to deal with.

"We know," Scott grinned, "Trent told us you were helping tutor him for math, and that you're a pretty good teacher."

"I guess."

Trent wasn't even saying a word. He just sat there, wrapped up in the math homework he had already received, and just not caring that he left Miles to his friends.

"I need help with Spanish." Scott got out.  
"English." This was Jason.  
"Science." Colin.  
"History." Nicolas.

Miles ran a hand through his hair, leaning back in his chair. He went through all the classes he was taking, and the classes he had taken that might be able to help them. It was safe to say that Miles was a nerd.

"So if we tell you where we are you can help us?" Jason asked.

"That's not-" the necessarily true part was cut off by Colin.

"Su-weet! Thanks dude!" Colin cut Miles off, clapping him hard on the back.

Trent snorted, the first sign that he was paying attention to the conversation at all, and Miles narrowed his eyes at the jock.

"Something funny?"

"Nothing at all, Lancaster." Trent smirked at him.

Miles smirked right back, "Oh? I thought maybe you were thinking about your face last night."

"Last night?" Scott asked.

"Keep your trap shut, Lancaster!" Trent warned, but it was little use. If Miles was going to end up tutoring five people, he was sure as hell going to get a kick out of it.

"Oh, Trent here got scared by a little can of snakes and confetti, thinking it was just nuts. My mom had to bake him cookies to heal his wounded pride."

Trent's growl was drowned out by the laughter of his friends, and Miles couldn't stop himself from smirking again. Despite his initial nervousness he found out that Scott, Jason, Colin, and Nicolas were just as surprisingly easy to put up with as Trent had been, though Scott was the friendliest by far.

By the time the bell rang Miles had checked over Trent's progress on his homework and given him the all clear. The five jocks had talked about football practice briefly, before switching to the newest episode of South Park, something Miles could happily join in on.

* * *

Thursday, and Trent had already spent his lunch period with Miles. But Scott, Jason, Colin, and Nicolas had also been there, and while he loved his friends, they were more than a little distracting. As it turned out Miles wasn't as much of a hard ass as he originally thought, being easily taken off topic himself. And because of that he still had over half of his homework left to do, and a new part they had learned that he was confused on. He'd texted Miles about it, and he'd replied that his mom and dad would be gone but he was taking a shower to wait about twenty minutes.

Worst mistake Miles could have made after the snake can scare, and the fact that he told Trent's friends about it. It was time for a little payback.

The drive to Miles' house was familiar by now, though the car that was usually parked in the driveway was gone. A walk to the front door and it was surprisingly unlocked, which was good because Trent hadn't thought far enough ahead to if it had been locked. He went inside, shut the door behind him.

He could already hear Mason howling, and that was unusual seeing as the large Mastiff rarely even barked. Trent tiptoed up the stairs, and Mason cut himself off mid-howl, looking at Trent and wagging his tail. The canine was stationed just outside the bathroom door, which was naturally shut so he couldn't get inside. Without the dog howling Trent could hear Miles singing from inside. He snickered to himself, taking a moment to listen.

"_Let's go ou-UUUUUUUT tonight!"_

Oh, this was just too good. Trent had no idea what song Miles was singing, or how the hell he was managing to hit that high of a note in the out, but as soon as he did it Mason howled along with the note, his young master dragging it out just so he could. He stepped over the happy Mastiff and opened the door quietly, shutting it as close to silent as he get.

"_I have to go ou-UUUUUUUUUUUUT tonight!"_

Miles obviously didn't notice, happy to carry on whatever tune he happened to be singing. Trent wrenched the shower curtain open, not worried at all that he'd see anything. They were both guys, it wouldn't matter if he saw Miles naked.

He never got the chance, though, because as soon as Miles noticed him he shrieked. And punched Trent in the face as hard as he could. The jock was so surprised that he ended up stumbling back a few steps before landing on his ass again, head in his hands.

"OW!" Trent hissed, "Fuck, hell, shit, damn! How the fuck can you punch that hard?"

Dimly he was aware of Miles turning off the shower, and then a moment later stepping out and grabbing a towel to wrap around his waist.

"I turn into the Incredible Hulk when some dumbass thinks it's smart to scare me in the shower." Miles deadpanned, kneeling in front of Trent. "Oh… You're bleeding."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Trent growled.

"Shut up, Sergeant Sarcasm, or I'll punch you again." Miles grabbed a wad of toilet paper, batting Trent's hands away and holding it under his nose. "On the toilet so I can see better."

Trent moved to the toilet obediently, holding the toilet paper under his nose to catch any of the blood that was still coming out while Miles wet a wash cloth and cleaned off what he could to have a better look. The irony of Miles cleaning him up after punching Trent for possibly giving him a heart attack wasn't lost on the jock, and he decided to say as much.

"So I scare you, you punch me, and then clean me up?"

Miles huffed, "You deserved the punch."

"Yeah? You shriek like a little girl. How the fuck did you even reach that high? My throat started to bleed just from hearing you." Trent wasn't above embarrassing Miles as much as he could now that he had the means to do so.

"If you really want to know stand up and I'll give you a good kick in the balls."

They would find out later that Miles actually managed to break Trent's nose. Well, it was just a minor fracture, but it still counted for something. And it was enough to piss Trent off, even though all he had to do was ice it and take a few Advil. It was embarrassing that someone as scrawny as Miles could break his nose, and he made the teen promise he wouldn't let anyone else know.

Anyone else would not include Scott, Nicolas, Jason, and Colin, though.

* * *

Friday, and Mikaela had Miles helping her again. She really appreciated it, seeing as Sam couldn't help her all the time. Bumblebee had offered to use his holoform, but she doubted it would go over well to have some random stranger come into the school just to help her carry her books.

Miles was leaning against the locker next to Mikaela's, the girl getting stuff out of hers and chatting away. Unlike Sam, Miles would actually listen to her whenever she chose to drone on about something, and she could always count on him paying attention.

"I had to spend three hours shopping with Aunt Missy to find the perfect dress for her wedding, and oh my God she looks so beautiful!" Here Mikaela straightened up, looking at Miles for a response. The boy looked back at her, but someone behind him caught her eye instead.

Trent was walking down the hall, and he looked to be in the worst mood she had ever seen him in. His nose was swollen and his eyes looked red and puffy. He looked ready to kill someone. One of his friends was following behind him, one Mikaela recognized as Scott. Her gaze drew Miles' attention, and he looked at Trent with her.

"Nice face, DeMarco."

Mikaela could feel her mouth literally drop open as she looked at Miles in shock, before looking at Trent in horror. While he didn't often lose his temper, she knew it could be dangerous when he did. Sure enough Trent stalked over to where they were standing, opening his mouth to say something, before shutting it again. That shocked Mikaela even more than Miles taunting him, and she was absolutely floored when Trent just turned and walked away. Scott didn't say anything; all he did was high-five Miles before following after Trent.

Mikaela wondered if she had accidentally taken too much of the pain killer that Ratchet had given her, because that was the only explanation for whatever the hell was going on.

* * *

Miles met Trent at his beloved truck when school ended. Scott, Trent, and Jason were already there, waiting for him. Trent's math teacher had quickly graded the jock's test, and then gave the results to Miles so he could give it to Trent. The three were sitting in the bed of the truck, and Trent glowered at Miles when he saw him.

Miles smirked, "Have you been icing your nose, Trenty?"

Scott and Jason snickered while Trent just glowered more, snatching the paper Miles was holding and looking at it. Jason peaked over his shoulder to look at the test himself.

"Congratulations, you passed! How though is anyone's guess, if you're stupid enough to mess with Lancelot in the shower." Jason taunted.

Miles and Scott both gave Jason identical looks.

"What? We're learning about the Knights of the Round Table!" Jason said defensively.

"Lancelot," Scott said thoughtfully, before nodding. "Think it fits. Strong enough to break Twenty Wenty's nose over here, but nice enough to tutor us heathens. Lancelot it is!"

Miles was trying to decide whether he liked the nickname or not when Trent seemed to finally recover from his shock, slid off the bed of his truck, and grabbed Miles, lifting him in the air with a tight bear hug. Miles squeaked and kicked his legs.

"Put me down, Trent!"

"I passed! Oh my God, I passed!"

Scott and Jason were too busy laughing their asses off to bother rescuing Miles.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: **Last part is in Chromia's part of view. She'll not reveal herself for a while but occasional POV's of hers will appear. The rest probably won't be that long, but I needed to explain some of the things with how she ended up there and how she won't just go to the Autobots right away.  
**Reviews: **Thanks to all who reviewed! (_Minimus Prime_, _SkyHighFan_, _Kageshi_)

_**Chapter Three**_

* * *

The turning point in Miles' and Trent's relationship happened two weeks and a day later, at least for Miles. It was a rocky trip there, mainly because Miles was just so different from whom Trent usually spent his time with. One of the guys, but he couldn't just go whacking Miles in the shoulder like he did Scott because he could hurt the other boy. And where one of the other guys might just brush him off, if Miles noticed something was bothering one of them he'd try to get them to talk about it. Miles was basically the girl of the group, and all of them blamed it on Elizabeth, though it wasn't that bothersome. It was nice to have a gentler presence among five people who wouldn't blink to punch each other in the jaw if they were angry.

For Miles he found the sudden befriending of five jocks a bit disorienting, mainly because he had one close friend, Sam, and a few not so close ones, like Mikaela. All five of the jocks were hovering somewhere in the uncomfortable in between, and all five were each at different levels of the in between, too. Jason was more of the not so close just because a lot of what he said even if some of it made Miles laugh, Trent and Scott were tied somewhere near the end of close, and Nick and Colin were just behind them.

Those two weeks had caused Sam and Miles to basically trade places. Before Sam had never had time to spend with Miles, especially not one on one. Now whenever Sam did have time Miles was either with the five jocks he had come to call friends, was going to be with them, or was kidnapped by them before they could hang out. Once they learned that they could just barge their way into Miles' house, grab the scrawny teen, and then drag him out, they did it quite often. Elizabeth never did anything but smile warmly, possibly offer them a quick breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, or whatever.

That Saturday morning Miles had gone over to Trent's house to help the jock study for a quiz on Monday. It was a minor one, only five points, but Trent needed any points he could get if he wanted to pass. The first time Miles had ever been to his house, too, and the only other person there was Trent's dad. He had been asleep on the couch when they came in.

After an hour just sitting at the kitchen table, alternating between actually working and talking, Miles got up, and asked where the bathroom was. Trent directed him down the hall three doors to his right, and Miles quickly went to it to relieve himself. During that time Trent's dad must have woken up and entered the kitchen, because it wasn't long before Miles heard them.

"_When the hell did I say you could have anyone over?_"

"_I asked mom last night at dinner, you were there when she said yes!_"

"_This is __my__ house; I'll damn well be the one who says yes! There'll be no shenanigans under my roof!_"

Miles zipped up his pants as quickly as he could, washing his hands as fast as he could go and not even bothering to dry them on the hand towel.

"_We're not fucking up to anything; he's just helping me with math!_"

"_Because you're failing it just like the worthless little-_"

Miles stepped into the kitchen and cleared his throat, interrupting Trent's dad. Even though his father was tinier than him, Trent had backed up against a counter, and the older male seemed to be looming over him. His father even had a hand raised, and Miles didn't want to think about what he was going to do with it.

"Actually, your son is doing a lot better in math. He didn't quite understand some of the teacher's explanations, and I'm just helping him understand them better."

The elder DeMarco sneered, "Because he's a stupid shi-"

"Anyway," Miles quickly and loudly interrupted again, brushing his way past the elder DeMarco and grabbing Trent by the arm. He jerked the jock away from his father, and to the door of the kitchen. "Trent's agreed to help my father and I put up a shed in our back yard, and he's been expecting us for a while, so we really ought to be going. Have a nice day!"

Miles practically dragged Trent out of the house, not allowing either DeMarco's a word in to say otherwise. He stopped once he got them to the porch, looking back at the jock he'd slowly been coming to know. What he said about the shed was a lie of course, and he normally tried not to lie, but it had slipped out. A plausible excuse for Trent being over, the jock's muscles, and it wasn't anything his father might deem 'shenanigans'.

"Trent, I-"

Trent jerked his arm away from Miles, scowling. "I think we're done for today."

"But-"

Miles still hesitated. He'd not been in the system for long before his new parents had found him, but it had been just long enough. Long enough to hear horror stories, to be kept up at night by some terrified child, or, near the end of his stay, comforting another kid and holding them as they cried. He remembered Trent saying that his mom worked a lot at the hospital, and he wondered how much his mom was around, and whether his father actually took that step over the line. Thinking about it made him feel a little sick.

"Go, Lancaster." Practically a growl, and no comforting use of Lancelot or his actual name.

Surely someone would have noticed if Trent was being abused, physically or verbally. Maybe this didn't happen that often, but the dark look on Trent's face didn't let Miles believe that. Reluctantly, Miles turned and left, knowing that even if he tried to find out now he'd most likely earn a bloody lip for his trouble with how angry Trent was. But as he left he promised himself that he'd pay more attention to any injuries the jock might have, or when he was in a spectacularly bad mood.

* * *

Later that night Miles was hanging out with Sam. His parents always went out for movie night on Saturday, and if they occasionally stayed out all night Miles did everything but ask why. Even thinking about thinking about talking about his parents' sex life had Miles wanting to scream.

It was getting harder and harder to just spend guy time with Sam, Mikaela often appearing and ruining it, so Miles was extremely happy. They were in the garage, sitting on the couch in there and watching the mini TV that had been placed in there as there was a cheesy old time horror movie marathon on, while in the dark. Sam's Camaro, for some reason, had actually been parked in the garage for once, but Miles could care less. Usually it gave him a weird feeling, but he decided to ignore that for the night.

When _Red Solo Cup_ came screeching out of Miles' pocket both boys jumped, and Sam turned an accusing look on his friend while he muted the TV. Miles shrugged apologetically and dug his phone out of his pocket, already knowing who it would be. He had specific ringtones for each person in his contacts and he knew this was Jason's.

He picked up, "What? I'm busy."

"_We need you to go pick up Trent, dude_." It was Scott's voice on the line, and he could hear shouting in the background.

"What? Why?" Miles asked, standing up and moving away from Sam. It almost felt like he was keeping a dirty secret from his best friend by never telling him about the jocks, but at the moment he just didn't want any prying ears.

"_Well we got some six packs-_"

"You got some what?" Miles hissed.

"_Oh, shut up! We'll de-prude you one day!_" Jason called, obviously close enough to be listening in.

"_JZ, SHUT UP!_" Miles could hear Scott smack the other boy, "_We got some six packs and Trent just took off with some, wouldn't even party with us. He's seriously pissed about something._"

"And I have to go play fetch, why?"

"_'Cuz he'd think twice about kicking your ass._"

"No, he'd not think twice about kicking my ass, he'd just be more likely to apologize afterwards." Miles pointed out dryly.

"_Same thing! Would you just go get him? He has his 'baby' with him, and we don't want him driving._"

Miles scrubbed a hand over his face, barely holding back a groan. The first time in forever that he was actually able to spend just one on one time with Sam, and _this_ happens. But he knew he would go, there was never really a point he would have said no. And the last thing Trent needed was a DUI, or worse, getting in a crash with his truck just because he was stupid enough to try to drive.

"Where is he?"

"_Lookout or lake, probably._ _Need one of us to pick you up?_"

"No. I can jog there in about ten or so minutes. Bye." Miles hung up and shoved the phone back in his pocket, turning to look at Sam. "Sorry, dude, I gotta go."

"You're bailing out on me, bro?"

Miles shrugged, "Guess it's about time our roles were reversed since you and Mikky stopped dating."

"I can't believe this! We haven't even finished The Blob yet!" Sam flopped down on the couch dramatically with a sigh, watching Miles put on his shoes. "What's wrong? Sounded like something was up."

"One: stop eavesdropping. Two: I need to go lasso me a friend before he gets a DUI or something."

"A DUI?" Sam's eyebrows shot up, "Jesus, Mi, who the hell are you tutoring?"

"I'm really starting to wonder that myself." Miles said, more than a little bitterly. Everything had been so much easier when Trent was just a jock and he was just a scrawny little nerd and they had never crossed paths. "Cover for me?"

"'Course! Need a ride?"

"Thanks but no thanks; it would definitely be a lot worse if you came."

* * *

Miles finally got to the lookout twenty minutes later, out of breath. He'd gone to the lake first, and while the two were near each other, they were still a good distance away and he'd had to make sure Trent wasn't at the lake. Once at the lookout it wasn't hard to spot Trent at all, leaning against his prized truck with a couple of empty cans on the ground around him.

"Scottie and JZ are worried about you," Miles commented idly, walking up to the jock. "Sent me to fetch you."

"They should mind their own fucking business." Trent scowled, crumbling up the can he was holding in his hand.

"Pretty sure they have every right to be since you-" Miles cut himself off when he noticed the black eye the jock was sporting, "Jesus, Trent, did he hit you?"

"We got in a fight and I shoved him."

"That doesn't mean that he has the right to hi-"

"Jesus, would you just shut the _fuck_ up already?" Trent growled, whirling on Miles.

Miles had never been afraid of Trent, even before they were technically friends and he was egging the jock on in his bedroom. So what if the jock punched him? But it was hard not to notice how pissed and drunk the jock was, and how much taller and bigger it made Trent seem. He took a step back, bumping into his truck, and instantly regretted it. Trent immediately realized what he'd done, turning and stalking away angrily to the top of the lookout.

Miles breathed in deeply, "Trent?"

No response. Trent sat down at the top, legs over the edge.

"I'll take you to my house, you can spend the night." Miles said, starting to walk back towards the jock. And then he added weakly, "Mom'll make sure you have a sweet chocolate chip pancakey death in the morning."

Trent still didn't reply, not even when Miles stopped beside him. But he did grab Miles' shirt, pointing at the night sky. Miles looked up to see what he could possibly be looking at. His mouth dropped open as a flaming meteor was heading near them. It impacted about three miles away, but both boys could still feel the tremors it sent through the Earth, and it caused Trent to lose his balance, rolling down the hill.

His grip on Miles' shirt ensured that Miles went with him, yelping as he was dragged down and then cussing along with Trent as they rolled over each other and then landed in a slightly tangled pile of limbs at the bottom of the steep hill. Miles ended up on top with a leg and an arm under Trent, but it was easy enough to pull his arm free and sit up with a groan.

A loud crack drew his attention, coming from the ground where the meteor had crashed. And there was something large, larger than Miles had ever seen before, and glowing blue eyes were looking at him. His heart jumped to his throat, it was too dark to see whatever it was and Miles hated that, not sure if he was just seeing the dark shapes of a bunch of things together in some kind of weird space rock formation with glowing blue stones, or one thing that really was looking like that, almost human except way too big. Too far away to really tell.

"Shit, Trent, we gotta go!" Miles tried to scramble off the jock, but forgot his leg was stuck under him, only managing to get out a little bit. He realized that Trent hadn't moved _at all_and quickly grew worried, shaking the jock. "Trent?"

A snore answered him, and Miles would have laughed if it wasn't so hard to believe. Trent was sleeping. Sleeping! He was torn between feeling like he should slap the jock awake, slightly worried that Trent might've been knocked out on the way down the hill, and slightly pissed if Trent had just been drunk enough to randomly fall asleep in the short amount of time he'd been lying underneath Miles.

Movement out of the corner of Miles' eye drew his attention back to whatever had come out of the sky. He'd momentarily forgotten it in his small panic over the jock, but now he could see it _moved_. And the blue had to be eyes, which meant whatever it was it was looking right at Miles. The thing moved again, looking like it was walking closer, and without thinking Miles tried to cover Trent's body with his own. The jock was asleep; if whatever it was came over he'd not be able to defend himself that quickly.

This whole entire situation was just impossible. An alien, the jock being the figurative damsel in distress, and Miles couldn't do a damn thing about it but pray. He wasn't an overly religious person, but he could pray to whatever out there might listen, and clench his eyes closed tight, because if the thing was advancing he sure as hell didn't want to watch it.

He didn't know how long he stayed like that, fear made time slow down. But he knew he heard something being picked up and then tossed, and if it was Trent's truck the jock was going to be so pissed.

* * *

Her landing had been a little rough, making her already sore body just that much sorer, but at least she'd not been knocked to pieces. Unfortunately she had managed to land herself in front of a pair of organics. Thankfully one was offline or just in recharge, even if that meant the one on top of the bigger organic was watching her in fear. A quick and light scan, the most she could manage in her damaged state, revealed both were the mech forms of their species.

Alone in space she'd heard the message that Optimus Prime had sent out, and as quick as possible she'd headed for the dirt ball planet called Earth by its inhabitants. She knew that the two organics she was looking at seemed to be the dominant species, and looked a lot like her own kind. Just without metal, transforming capabilities, a lot easier to kill, flesh, and a lot smaller. Even if Optimus hadn't put out a warning in the message that none of the organics-_humans_-were not to be killed, she'd never have touched them. They were just so tiny; they'd never stand a chance against her.

When the one organic who was actually looking at her said something, she assumed to the organic underneath him, she understood it completely. She'd bothered to learn at least some of what she could on the way there.

"_Shit, Trent, we gotta go!_" The organic sounded distressed and afraid. "_Trent?_"

English was such an odd language, in her opinion. So much different from the Cybertronian she was used to, though she had been on a few other sentient planets before and learned some of the languages there.

She took her chance to move when the smaller organic looked down at the bigger oganic, Trent. As soon as she did the smaller organic's eyes were on her again. A combination of adrenaline and keen eyesight was probably helping him. She knew she was just far enough away that he'd not be able to make out exactly what she was, and she had at least gotten off lucky there.

But she couldn't just stand there all night in a staring contest with a tiny organic. Even with him looking at her she had to move, and she started walking forward. This scared the smaller organic, but instead of running he tried to hide the bigger organic underneath him from sight. The tiny one was brave, but their body masses were too different. Even if she hadn't already seen the organic called Trent she would have seen him if she'd actually been going over to the two boys.

No, she knew better than to go near the two organics in her current state. As fast as she could she scaled the steep hill and made it to the top, delighted to see that there was a car, a truck, sitting there and waiting for her. She scanned it quickly before glancing to see what was inside. Just a few cans of some type of organic drink, nothing that would be too suspicious if it was suddenly missing. Good, that meant she could just pick it up and toss it as far as possible.

She transformed into the truck, settling down on to her shocks and waiting. It didn't take Prowl's battle computer to figure out that the likelihood of one of the organics at the bottom of the hill owning the vehicle she had just tossed was extremely likely.

Happily, she thought ahead to when she'd finally be able to reunite with the Autobots. A surprise attack by the Decepticons had separated her from her fellow femmes, and she'd been left to Hook. The Decepticon Medic knew what would really affect an Autobot: being caught off from all others of their faction, especially their Sparkmate. So he had destroyed her comm system, most of her in-depth scanning capabilities, and destroyed several other things too. She'd eventually been able to escape and repair the outside damage. Her internal repair systems had gradually worked on the systems and protocols that let her access things like Earth's internet, but all she could do was browse. She couldn't download or leave comments. It also allowed her to receive Optimus' message, something she was extremely grateful for.

She would finally be able to see Ironhide again, her beloved Sparkmate. It had been much to long since she last set optics on him, and though she'd have to search around a bit before she located the Autobots, as she couldn't contact them, they would be sure to pick up that a Cybertronian presence had landed and start looking to see if it was one of their own.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when the organics finally made their way to the top of the hill. Or at least the smaller one had, appearing to be dragging the larger one the whole way. The smaller organic dragged the organic she knew as Trent all the way over to her and to her passenger side, before opening the door and shoving the recharging organic inside of her. He spent a moment checking inside of what she knew were called pants, before the smaller organic pulled out of set of keys.

The smaller organic finished pushing the organic designated as Trent inside of her, before closing her passenger door and then moving around in front of her to the driver's side door. The smaller organic climbed inside, shut the door, slid the key into her ignition, but didn't turn it. It wasn't like she needed it to start up, but she knew enough to know that was what Earth vehicles required.

Instead the smaller organic gripped her steering wheel with both hands, before leaning his head against the middle of it. Gradually she realized he was shaking, and felt slightly bad for scaring the poor tiny thing so bad.

"_Please,_" The smaller organic was saying, mouth moving against the steering wheel. "_Let me keep him safe_."

She thought it sounded like desperate pleading, almost like a prayer, and decided she liked the smaller organic. He almost reminded her of her Sparkmate, always trying to protect those he cared about. Though Ironhide tended to show his emotions quite a bit differently, usually with his cannons involved at some point.

She cast another scan over the two organics inside of her, and while she put all she could behind it, she still couldn't get as much as she liked. Just the outside stuff. The two organics were mechs, and the one designated as Trent appeared to be hurt on his face, near his optics. It made her wonder if the smaller organic had been talking about her when he'd asked to keep the organic designated as Trent safe, or someone else entirely.

While she was scanning them she noticed the smaller organic tense up, and realized that this organic was a sensitive one. One of the things Optimus had explained in the message he had sent to space was how certain organics seemed to be able to pick them out while others could not. Through exposure an organic who had previously not been able to tell the difference between them and a non-sentient car would be able to tell, though it seemed only the sensitive ones could feel scans, and only very slightly.

Then and there she decided that when she wasn't looking for her fellow Autobots she would do her best to keep an eye on the two organics inside of her. She wasn't sure which one of them technically 'owned' her. The organic designated as Trent had been holding the keys that were meant to start her up, but the smaller organic was the one taking them and using them. She had nothing else she could do, and in the message that Optimus had sent out to space he had included that Bumblebee, the little Scout she adored so much, had respected one of the organics enough to take them on as a Charge.

Like usual, her Prime couldn't keep anything short. It had been a very long message, but she had enjoyed it after so much time had passed without her being around another Cybertronian, even a Decepticon. Near the end Optimus had also included that the organics would be unable to pronounce their Cybertronian names, so the closest Earth equivalent that could be found would be used for them.

A quick search on the internet helped her decide what hers would translate to. _Chromia_.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN:** Here's a longer chapter! More reviews, pu-weeze! I feed off them!  
**Reviews: **Thanks to all who reviewed! (_MissShelz, 999, yaoifanfake, electro moonlight_)

_**Chapter Four**_

* * *

Trent woke up with a snort, staring at the ceiling half asleep while he wiped his mouth. He looked around until he found a clock to check the time before deciding it was too damn early to wake up and rolled over, intent on going back to sleep. Then he realized he'd needed to look for a clock in the first place, nearly panicking until he sat up and realized he recognized the room as Miles when he saw Mason sitting by the door and watching him.

He sighed in relief, kicking off the blanket he had wrapped himself up in and standing. He was still in his clothes from the night before, though his shoes had been taken off. After another moment he quickly turned the pillow he'd been using over and made a face, figuring Miles didn't need to know it had been drooled on. Trent left the room, pausing to scratch Mason behind the ears, before looking around for Miles.

From what little he could remember, Miles had to have dragged him home all on his own, and then upstairs and into his bed. That was no easy feat, and had it been Trent he would have just left Miles to sleep in his truck. But Miles wasn't Trent, and had gone to all the trouble just to come and find him and then do all of that. Trent did remember something falling from the sky, and almost felt bad because he also remembered tumbling down the hill and dragging Miles with him.

It wasn't hard to find Miles when he went downstairs, because he could smell breakfast being cooked. He was slightly surprised to enter the kitchen and see Miles instead of Elizabeth cooking, though. He hadn't even known Miles could cook; if Trent even tried he ended up burning anything more advanced then grilled cheese, and even then he could burn that. But there Miles was, humming away as he made eggs and bacon, and it looked like he'd already made pancakes.

"Uhm…"

That made Miles notice him, "Oh, good morning! Mom and Dad haven't made it back yet so I figured I'd go ahead and make breakfast."

"Uh-"

"Go ahead and take a seat, would you like something to drink? How about some orange juice?"

"Su-"

"Do you have a headache?" Miles was already getting the orange juice before Trent could even finish saying yes, "If so we have some Tylenol somewhere."

"No-"

"No? That's good." Miles turned back around to focus on the breakfast, not letting Trent finish. Again. "You can take a shower if you want but I don't think we'd have any clothes you could change into."

Jesus, he couldn't even get out anything more than one syllable before Miles was talking again. Miles just kept blabbering on, and Trent was about to snap at him before he realized that he was on edge about something. Had something happened after their roll down the hill that he didn't know about? He couldn't remember anything after that, but he doubted anything could have happened. Maybe it was just the whole thing after last night; Miles might just be worried about him.

"You're gonna run out of breath if you keep that up," Trent said dryly.

"Ah…" Miles seemed to hesitate, finally, actually bothering to look at Trent now. And then he did something that took Trent completely by surprise, hugging him. "I'm sorry, I'm just worried. I know that if you were actually being abused that someone probably would have noticed by now, since Scott and the others spend so much time with you, and then there's school, but I also know how good someone suffering from abuse can hide it, or be forced to hide it, because of my short time in the system I met some people, and even if you're not and it's just fighting and both of you sometimes go overboard I just want you to know that you can come and hide out here anytime, mom won't mind and neither with dad, so it'd be okay if you needed to!"

Miles was rambling in his ear, and Trent had no idea what to do with his arms, much less where to put his hands. He'd outgrown the stage of actually hugging someone besides his mom or a girlfriend when he hit Middle School, and if he did hug one of his friends it was always excruciatingly tight, a bear hug. Not a nice one, like he was getting.

As embarrassed as it made him, Trent was slightly happy to be worried over like this, even if Miles was taking the whole thing out of line. Then again, he supposed it could look seriously bad from Miles' point of view, and Miles knowing some people who had been abused certainly explained the overreaction. But there was also the fact that with people like Scott, Jason, Nick, and Colin as friends it would be nearly impossible to hide, and if they found out Trent was fairly sure they'd all team up to hide the body. Now it looked like Miles would be right there with them.

"He's not usually this bad, I swear. We get along fine most of the time, he'll just get in a bad mood and then you know me, so that just makes everything worse. He's strict and expects a lot, but usually I'm pretty good at satisfying that, and even if I don't it usually don't matter. He can just be a real asshole sometimes." Trent said, just letting his hands hang at the side and looking at the ceiling.

Scott, Colin, Jason, and Nick were his best friends, but their way of showing they were worried either involved yelling, some type of hitting, or an extremely awkward conversation. If they had ever been as worried about his situation with his father as Miles was, they had certainly never said anything. Despite the fact that he had no idea how to react to it, he preferred Miles way a lot better. It showed that he was not only worried, but cared, too.

"But, I guess I'll come here if we get pissed at each other again." Trent allowed, before poking Miles in the side. "You can let go anytime now."

"Yeah, sorry." Miles backed off, flashing him a quick smile, before returning to breakfast.

Trent was surprised that it didn't turn awkward; if it had been anyone else but Miles it would have been awkward almost immediately. He snorted and took a seat, watching Miles cook. Maybe he could have the scrawny blonde tutor him in that, too. It certainly smelled delicious.

"There's a costume party JZ's throwing on Halloween," Trent commented, remembering that he'd been told to invite Miles last night before he'd run off with all the beer. He'd have to pay them back, and then smack them for sending Miles after him. They knew that wasn't playing fair. "He told me to invite you."

"I have plans with Sam." Miles said, putting the bacon on a plate to cool.

"Well, now you don't." Trent replied, "Lamest costume gets hazed."

Miles rolled his eyes, "I'm not gonna ditch him, Trent."

"Why not?"

"I already bailed on him last night."

"So?" Trent asked in a bored manner, "You can bail on him again, then!"

Trent might have sounded bored, but on the inside he was thinking something along the lines of '_Ha, take that you Bunny stealer, he deemed me more important!_'. He might have realized his previous mistake with Mikaela, and while it was true the main reason he had gone out with her in the first place was because she looked good and it was basically expected of them, but that did not mean he appreciated some geek like Sam snatching her away right after she left him.

He could never say this out loud though. Miles made a specific point to not talk about Sam around Trent or any of his friends just to avoid any conversation that might turn nasty towards the brunette. Miles wasn't stupid; he realized that Sam stealing Mikaela away, even though he didn't have her anymore, was a slight towards Trent's macho-ness, as he himself had put it. Sam, too, for some reason just had a natural dislike for the jock.

"I am _not_ bailing on him again." Miles punctuated this with a glare.

"Let's put it this way," Trent smirked, "You either ditch him or we get to pick your costume. And force you through any preparations that might be needed for it."

"Good luck with that." Miles huffed, stirring the eggs. Trent grinned at the challenge.

* * *

Two days later, and Trent had agreed to drive Miles home if the blonde went with him to the store and helped him pick out a present for his mother. Up until then Miles had managed to avoid climbing inside of Trent's truck, knowing if he did that he'd remember the creature he saw the night of the meteor. That night he wasn't sure what he felt, but something had given him the creeps even from within the safety of the truck once he'd managed to drag Trent inside.

That was why he was hesitating, Trent looking at him with a raised eyebrow from the driver's seat. But Miles couldn't help it; there was something different about his truck. A look on the outside revealed no differences, and when he finally climbed inside and looked around there wasn't anything different in there, either.

Trent was watching him with an annoyed expression, and Miles looked pointedly out the window, hoping he'd just start the truck already. He knew it was stupid, that he was probably just being paranoid, but the truck made him think of Sam's Camaro now. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching him.

"What is your problem?" Trent finally snapped, apparently having enough of Miles' fidgeting.

"Nothing."

"Nothing my ass."

Miles sighed, "Do you feel any different inside here?"

"Any different?" Trent echoed dumbly, a clear indication that he had no idea what Miles was talking about.

"Never mind, I'm just being stupid."

Trent opened his mouth to ask, before closing it again and starting up his truck. If Miles didn't want to talk about it, then he wouldn't push it.

* * *

Halloween day, and Miles hummed as he let himself into the Witwicky household, carrying his backpack. The 31st fell on a Wednesday this year, but it wasn't like their school needed to worry about snow days or two hour delays, and was a little lenient. So Miles, Sam, and all the others in their school had today, Thursday, and Friday off. The one thing all the kids loved about their little desert school.

Judy and Ron, Sam's parents, were spending the day with his own parents doing God knows what to have fun while their sons spent the day together. It was just a little past noon, and Miles knew Sam was probably still asleep at the moment, and was counting on it. He knew where the spare key was, just like Sam knew where the spare key for his house was, planning on giving his friend an early scare. He'd told Sam that he was coming around three so if his friend was already awake he was going to be surprised.

He crept up the stairs as silently as possible, years of being in the house almost as much as his own telling him where the steps creaked. He opened the door to Sam's room and stepped inside, eyes landing on a stranger and stopping dead in his tracks.

There, right next to where Sam was sleeping was a man. Blonde hair with a military cut, brighter than Miles own mop of hair, and tall, taller than Trent or any of the jocks he'd come to call friends. Blue jeans and a black tank top with yellow stripes down his stomach, but somehow he looked imposing even in that. Tan and straight backed, looking in his early 20s, appearing to study Sam in his sleep. Until Miles inhaled sharply, and this seemed to make the man notice him, blue eyes darting to look at him. A blue he recognized, too bright to be human, something he saw the night of the meteor.

"Sa-" Miles glanced away for just a second, looking for something he could toss, and when he looked back the man was gone, Sam's name dying on his lips.

Sam gave a snort and rolled over, but otherwise showed no signs of being disturbed. Miles stared in shock at where the man had just been moments ago, but now there was nothing. There was no way he could have hidden in such a short time, and even if he could have there was nowhere for him to hide unless he leapt to the other side of Sam's bed and ducked. Miles would have heard him.

A minute later and Miles was out of the Witwicky house, running back down the street he'd just been on. He no longer cared if he ditched Sam again; there was no way he was staying there just to drive himself insane. So he ran, a fear settling down into the pit of his stomach. Afraid for Sam, afraid of what he just saw and what he'd seen the night of the meteor, afraid of what it all could mean, afraid of what Sam had been keeping from him and why.

Afraid that maybe, just maybe, he was going insane.

Miles stopped running when he reached the lake, because any further and he'd be back at the lookout. He didn't need to go there now, not when he was already freaking out. Instead he slung his backpack off his shoulder and a few feet away, slumping down into the grass and panted, trying to collect his thoughts.

If it all would have been something to do with Sam, he wouldn't have been questioning his own sanity. But Trent's truck and the creature at the meteor had nothing to do at all with his friend. The only link he had between them was that after the night of the meteor Miles felt weird in Trent's truck, the same feeling he got in Sam's Camaro. That one, tiny little link between them wasn't enough to tell Miles that no, he wasn't going insane.

"Oy, Miles!"

Miles jumped at the voice, sitting up and looking behind him as Trent walked towards him. He blinked in surprise, because he really must have been freaking out if he hadn't heard Trent's truck pull up and then the jock getting out of it and walking towards him until his name was called.

"What's wrong?" Trent came to a stop beside where he was sitting, frowning down at him. "I saw you running like a bat out of hell and followed. Something happen at Witwicky's?"

"You could say that." Miles didn't elaborate, didn't dare to, and he was thankful when Trent didn't ask. Instead the jock just sat down beside him.

"Have you thought about joining the track team?" Trent asked lazily, plucking at the grass as he pretended not to eye Miles. "You run really fucking fast."

Miles put on a grin, "Have you seen Mason? I have to be able to run fast to wear him out."

Trent grunted in agreement, and for a couple of minutes Miles had silence. He knew the jock was just biding his time until Miles himself said something, or he finally snapped and asked, but he still appreciated it. He counted to one hundred slowly to calm himself down, no longer even sure why he had been freaking out as bad as he did. Then again, seeing a man and then the man disappearing just like that would be enough to send anyone into a fit, or at least he thought so.

Trent seemed to have enough, "Did you have a fight with him or something?"

"No."

"Then _what_?"

"I just-" think I'm going insane? No, that wouldn't do. Trent would probably believe him. "Just decided I'd rather go to the Halloween party and ran instead of coming up with a lame excuse to tell Sam."

Trent didn't believe him, and Miles could see that on his face. But thankfully the jock didn't push it.

"Have a costume?"

"A bed sheet." Miles offered weakly. It was tradition for he and Sam to go as bed sheet ghosts.

"A _bed sheet_?" Trent laughed, "That's definitely not going to do, Lancelot. Not at all."

"Well it's too late to get another costume," Miles pointed out, "Most of them will have sold out by now."

"Colin has a couple of older twin sisters. I guarantee you they can whip you up something real nice." Trent was smirking at him, and Miles really didn't like the look on his face.

* * *

"Dude, I can't believe we're letting poor Lance face those… those devils!" Colin said, flopping back into the arm chair dramatically.

Trent rolled his eyes, putting his feet up on the coffee table. "The idiot was going to go as a bed sheet ghost. You and I both know if he lost he'd be killed with whatever Jason decides to have down to him."

"Yeah," Colin allowed, and for a moment nothing was said. Then they heard a thump from upstairs and Miles say something in a pitch close to yelling, but not quite there yet. He grinned, "He's going to hate you."

"Me?" Trent asked with a snort, "You mean us. It's not just me sending him off here."

And it wasn't. It was easy to get Miles into his truck and over to Colin's house, where Colin, Scott, and Nick were already waiting. When Miles had actually met Colin's sisters, though, and heard some of the ideas they had for his costume, he'd immediately tried to run. Colin himself had blocked the exit, while Scott and Nick had each grabbed a scrawny arm and escorted Miles upstairs into the twins' room. After Miles had been shoved inside the door had been locked behind him.

There was no doubt in any of their minds that Miles would be dressed up as a girl for the night. The occasional fuss they could hear being made upstairs only furthered their belief in this fact. That, and at one point there had been a scream, Colin going to check only to be turned away with a one word answer of 'waxing'.

Sure enough, when Miles came down the stairs he had been transformed. It was easy enough to see him as a female Waldo, a black wig covering his dirty blonde hair. The classic red and white horizontal striped shirt, stretched so it showed his shoulders, coupled with a blue pencil skirt, the striped shirt untucked so it hid the top of the skirt, black leggings that came down to his knees, and plain black heels that had little bows at the toes.

It was no wonder Miles looked like he'd rather be dead then in his current getup.

"As you can see," One of the twins waved a hand at Miles chest, "He has no breasts, so the top was left baggy. We used this to stretch it out and show his shoulders, as well as make it a bit long in the arms."

"And, if you care to look," Continued the other twin, patting Miles on the ass and ignoring the embarrassed splutter it got out of him. "He has a very _fine_ ass. Most men have flat asses, such a turn off, but he has just the perfect one. And because he's so skinny leggings help make his legs look girlier. His feet were a bit big for a girl, but we already had a few big sizes in case we could get Colin into anything."

"Nothing to do but add makeup to his face and hope that'd hide the masculinity," The first twin sighed sadly, before grinning. "But this eye shadow does make his eyes pop! Very pretty."

"Just kill me now," Miles muttered, opting to slowly step away from the twins as they babbled on, until finally he was far enough away that they could touch him anymore. The twins pouted before retreating upstairs.

It wasn't until they were gone that any of the jocks actually spoke up.

"Bahahaha, you look like a girl!" Colin laughed, and no one was surprised when he was smacked over the head by Miles. "Ow! You hit like one too!"

* * *

Sam stared at Bumblebee's holoform in horror, while Mikaela just sighed. The Scout had texted her phone and asked her to come over so he could talk to both her and Sam. He also used this as an excuse to get her to wake Sam up, which was always a horrible task to get. Sam could easily sleep through anything, and usually if you wanted him up it took some pain. She had then dragged him downstairs to the garage.

Bumblebee had just told them that Miles had walked in on him, and he had panicked and just dissolved his holoform without thinking when Miles had looked away.

"How could you not know he was there?" Sam asked, something Mikaela herself had been wondering.

Bumblebee appeared to fidget, "The same way you can know someone is there but still be surprised by them when they get too close to you. My processor is so used to him that it doesn't qualify it as necessary to alert me to his presence in my scanners. Yes, he's still in the scans, but we know he's sensitive to us, and I'm mainly looking for people I don't know or any threats to you, not for someone we both know and trust."

"So he walked in on you doing what exactly?" Mikaela asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well," Bumblebee tilted his head to the side to put on an innocent look, "Sam was having a bad dream and I grew worried. I was going to wake him when Miles walked in."

Sam might have been fooled by that, but Mikaela wasn't. She didn't say anything, though. Bumblebee obviously didn't want Sam to know if he wasn't saying it, and she could try to get it out of the Autobot Scout later.

"What do I say to him?" Sam asked, clearly more worried about what to say to his friend than Bumblebee's intentions in his room while he had been asleep.

"Do not say anything," Bumblebee replied, "If he does not bring it up then you do not, either. I doubt he will, he ran out of the house moments later and the light scan I ran picked up the organic signs of fear. Most likely he will assume he was seeing things, or it was a trick you did for Halloween."

Sam sighed, "I was going to introduce you to him in that holoform too! That way you could actually talk to him."

Mikaela noticed that Bumblebee looked thrilled by this, but she wasn't sure if it was because he would have finally been able to talk to Miles, or because Sam had been considerate enough of him to think to do that in the first place, as it would involve lying to Miles even more.

"I can change how my holoform looks, Samuel." Bumblebee reminded Sam gently.

"Yeah, but that's your preferred look, isn't it? The one you're most comfortable in?"

Good lord, Bumblebee was going to break his holoform's face if he looked any happier. Sam didn't notice, he was too busy tidying up the garage. Mikaela decided she was definitely going to need to start paying more attention to how Bumblebee reacted to and treated Sam. And how Sam reacted to and treated Bumblebee, but she had dated the teen before, and knew how he would have acted if he was interested in Bee.

She personally hoped that Sam would either start to like the Scout, or just didn't realize his feelings, if Bumblebee was starting to like him, which Mikaela was pretty sure he was. Bumblebee's holoform was hot, and she'd come to appreciate Sam's looks, as well. She'd appreciate them even more when paired up with Bee, though. She knew for a fact that Maggie and Sarah would, too.

* * *

After Miles got his costume, they all decided to go to the mall to kill some time until Jason's party.. Now they were all dressed up in their different costumes. Scott was Dracula, Nick was Romeo, Colin was Elvis, and Trent was a Captain Jack Sparrow too lazy to bother with a wig or facial hair. The mall was an easy way to kill time, but as a special Halloween treat some stores were also giving out coupons or candy to people who came dressed up, so there was a lot of kids, teenagers, and even adults running around in costumes.

At some point Miles noticed Mikaela and Sam and sneaked off to see them. Let the jocks thing they'd lost him or he actually ran away, after he'd been forced to walk around in heels and a skirt he was feeling a bit mean. He walked over to Sam and Mikaela, Mikaela dressed as a naughty school girl complete with glasses and pig tails while Sam seemed to have transformed his bed sheet into a toga.

"Hey, 'Kaela, looking hot." Miles said by way of greeting, grinning at the two in front of him. Sam looked baffled for a second, while Mikaela just looked him up and down and laughed.

"You look pretty hot yourself, Mi." Mikaela smirked, "But you're missing the glasses."

Miles tried to protest, but it was too late. Mikaela had already taken off the lensless glasses she'd been wearing and put them on Miles instead.

"Dude!" Sam exclaimed, "You ditched me and then show up like this?"

If Sam was saying that, then it was fairly obvious he didn't know Miles had shown up earlier and saw the mysterious blonde guy. Just as well, Miles really didn't want to ask about the mysterious disappearing man yet. He didn't want to be told he was imagining things.

"Don't you think if I'm in this it wasn't by my own choice?" Miles pointed out dryly, though it had been by his choice at first.

Sam grinned, "Fair enough."

"So who are you with?" Mikaela asked, "I'm hoping you have someone to help beat off the droves of men that must be falling at your heels. If you don't you can hang with us."

"Sorry, I'm going to a party later. I doubt if my captors would appreciate me escaping for long." Miles shrugged, glancing around. He didn't see the group of jocks anywhere, so they probably hadn't noticed he was missing.

"Jason's?" Mikaela asked, remembering that he had made fun of Trent and Scott had high-fived him. Miles nodded, leading her to ask another question. "He one of the people you tutoring?"

"Yeah," Miles nodded again, before looking at Sam. "I do have one serious question for you, Sam."

"Yeah, buddy?"

"Does this skirt make my ass look fat?" Miles tried to keep a straight face, but it was hard when Mikaela burst out laughing.

Sam pretended to look thoughtful, "It looks huge in that skirt. Sorry, buddy."

"Jerk!" Miles pretended to sniff, turning his nose up at his friend.

"_THERE'S WALDO!_"

Sam looked surprised at the yell, but Mikaela just rolled her eyes.

"And that's my cue! Gotta go!"

Miles turned and tried to flee from the approaching group of Dracula, Elvis, Romeo, and Captain Jack Sparrow, but it really was pointless when he was wearing heels.

* * *

Trent was trying to remember how they'd gotten into this mess in the first place, and like usual it was all Jason's fault. Wasn't hide and seek a children's game, anyway? But then again dressing up was for children, too. That still didn't explain why he had been paired up with Miles, or why it had been moved outside Jason's house in the first place.

They were just lucky that Jason's house was near the lake, meaning there was a small amount of woods to go and have fun in. Like any party that Jason, or one of the jocks was going to throw, it had alcohol. Miles had made a point of looking annoyed, but had also made a point of not ruining anyone else's fun with it. He wasn't providing it and he wasn't drinking it, so he'd not be the one getting in trouble.

Though for some reason he and Miles had decided to stick to the house, hiding between the narrow space between the house and the garage. It really was narrow, being on their hands and knees meant Trent's shoulders were touching both the wall of the house and the wall of the garage. Had he been standing up he could have turned sideways and had plenty of room, but then he would have been spotted too easily. Jason's family kept their two garbage cans right in front of the gap between the buildings, and they were ducking behind that for cover, Miles in front so he could peer between the cracks.

Which meant he had a perfect view of Miles' ass, something Trent wasn't quite comfortable with.

"Get your ass out of my face," Trent muttered.

"Get your face out of my ass," Miles retorted.

"My face isn't in your ass!"

"Then my ass isn't in your face." Miles pointed out in his 'duh' tone.

Trent cursed inwardly and shifted as much as he could to make himself more comfortable. He was trying to decide just where to look, because the view in front of him was causing a stirring that he _really_ didn't need to think about, but the ground was a lot less interesting. He wasn't drunk enough to blame it all on the alcohol, but he was buzzed enough to still put some of it on the alcohol, and the rest on the fact that Miles was dressed as a fucking girl.

* * *

Chromia wasn't sure what to think of what the organics called a party. Her research on the internet had shown her it was usually for birthdays, with streamers and balloons, maybe confetti. This was apparently a different kind of party, if the decorations of death everywhere were anything to go by. Another check revealed it was Halloween, a holiday all on its own.

Chromia firmly decided that Earth had strange customs, but the next time it rolled around she enjoyed the thought of getting Ironhide to paint himself as something. Maybe one of those Jack o' lanterns.

The organics had started to play some game called 'Hide and Seek', and the ones she knew personally had hidden together, and luckily enough they were just far enough away that the one she knew as Miles by now wouldn't feel the scan. Trent never felt anything, but she had to be careful around Miles. He was already getting paranoid from just riding in her, she didn't need to add the scans to it.

Trent's spike in arousal didn't go unnoticed to her because of this, though Miles was completely oblivious to it. This was great; she'd always enjoyed playing matchmaker on Cybertron. Back before the War that had been how she met Ironhide. Even though she was stuck playing non-sentient car she was already planning on how to help. She'd have to focus on Trent completely though, she could scare Miles off if she suddenly started changing radio stations to talk.

Two more hours passed before most of the organics at the party bothered to leave, her organics coming near to her and standing around with four more. All of them but Miles seemed to be drinking something called 'beer', something she related to High Grade Energon. This meant she wasn't surprised when the organics started to act a bit more free and silly than they would normally, something she expected from relating it to High Grade.

She was even amused when the one called Jason, the one who threw the party, went to Miles and hugged him, hands feeling up his aft, or what the organics called their ass, butt, or other names. He then ran away as Miles sputtered indignantly, laughing his head off. Miles stomped his way over to Trent, grabbed the can of beer he was drinking, chugged it down, and then quickly took off the heels he was wearing and shoving them into Trent's chest.

"_Hold my heels,_" She heard him hiss, "_I'm going to go kick his ass._"

Then Miles was off, and Chromia would have been surprised he could run that fast if she hadn't already seen him running even faster earlier as he ran through town. Trent had made sure to drive her so she could follow him then, but none bothered to chase Miles now, it was easy enough to hear Jason's hollers for help without moving. And now Trent was laughing, sitting down in the back of her.

"_This is going to be good,_" Trent said with obvious glee, and Chromia wasn't the only one who agreed. It was always the small ones who would surprise you.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN:** Trent finds out a bit more about Miles, we find out just why no one has come to claim Chromia, and both Chromia and Bumblebee decide to be a little mischevious. Review, please! Any suggestions for couples? So far I have Ironhide/Chromia, eventual Sam/Bee, Miles/Trent!  
**Reviews: **Thanks to those who reviewed! (_SJSGirl, Queen Mariko, Lantean12, XXSunstreaker'sXXLoveXX_)

_**Chapter Five**_

* * *

Halloween had ended and taken October with it, settling them firmly in the beginnings of September. With the end of term coming up soon it was even more important for Miles to help Trent bring his grade up, which had turned from an F into a very nice looking high D, soon to be C if Miles had anything to say about, which he would.

As soon as Trent had pulled on to Miles' street the scrawny blonde started to make a face, the jock could see it in his peripheral vision, and it took him a moment to figure out what could be causing it until he saw the second car in Miles' driveway. There was someone beside Elizabeth and Bob, and by the face Miles was making, he obviously knew who it was and didn't care for them.

"Can we move it to your house today? I just need to grab my phone, I forgot it." Miles asked, sinking low in his seat the closer they got.

"What?" Trent was slightly surprised, and now more than a little curious. After the one disastrous attempt they had stuck to Miles' house or Scott's for group study sessions if they weren't having them at Miles'. "Yeah, that's fine. Who's visiting?"

"The wicked bitch of the west…" Miles muttered as Trent pulled in the driveway.

It wasn't like Miles didn't cuss, he called the group of jocks dumbasses more times than Trent cared to remember for something one, or all of them, did. He just never cussed when talking about someone and meant it, he'd never been mean about it before. Miles was an extremely patient person, Trent knew this as a fact because he could put up with all of them whining while being made to study, and he had to have the patience of a saint to deal with all of them on the best of days, anyway. And now it sounded like Miles was actually badmouthing someone, which was a complete turn.

Okay, now Trent was _really_ curious. Miles was just about to get out of his truck when the front door opened, Elizabeth coming out followed by another woman Trent didn't know, so Miles just sat back again, rolling down his window.

"Good afternoon, Mom, Aunt Lucy." Miles put on a smile, "We'll be out of your hair as soon as I get my phone."

Elizabeth grinned, reaching in and dropping Miles' phone in his lap. "Gotta keep better track of it, baby. Hello, Trent."

"Hi, Lizzie." Trent gave a little wave, eyes going to 'Aunt Lucy'.

The woman looked like she could be a librarian for rowdy teenagers, stern expression with glasses half way down her nose so she could peer over them and already gray hair in a bun, though she looked to be about the same age as Elizabeth. She reminded Trent of a teacher he had in middle school, one that everybody was terrified of because she'd yell at you if you even so much as whispered to a friend. Aunt would make her either Elizabeth's or Bob's sister.

"And just _where_ will you two be going?" Lucy asked in a snappish tone, eyes narrowed as she looked from Miles to Trent.

Well, now Trent could understand why Miles had called her the wicked bitch of the west. It sounded like she was expecting them to go get in trouble or burn down the school, and the way she looked at Trent, as if she was trying to decide if he was a troublemaker, just pissed him off. Trent shifted the stick into reverse, glancing in the mirror.

"Oh, I found this great dealer, but we have to hurry because he's taking a bus to the big apple tonight since the cops got a tip on him."

Miles made a choking noise to hide laughter, hand flying up to his mouth in case he needed to smother his sounds, while Lucy looked horrified, Elizabeth torn between amusement and wanting to admonish Trent for what he said. Trent loved Lizzie, but he didn't give her the chance, quickly reversing out of the driveway and shouting out a quick bye with a wave before driving off. He sped off quickly, Miles snickering softly into his hand.

"I think I love you."

Trent smirked, "Get in line with the rest of my adoring fans. You can be right after Scott."

Miles rolled his eyes, shoving his phone in his pocket and buckling up again. Trent slowed down a bit, taking a turn into town.

"So what's up with Miss Holier-than-thou?"

"Lucy?" Miles asked, though it didn't really need clarified. He grimaced, "She hates me, but she's Mom's sister. Even Mom only puts up with half her crap because she's family."

"_Hates_ you? What, doesn't like your straight As?" Trent snorted in disbelief, "You have got to be exaggerating. Sure she seems like a total bitch, but why the hell would she hate you? You're practically the perfect son. Is it some stupid reason like she hates gays and you supp-"

"It's because I'm adopted."

That made Trent shut his mouth so fast he bit his tongue, immediately feeling like a bit of an ass. Miles rarely mentioned the fact that he was adopted just because it didn't matter, and Trent was sure he only mentioned it in the first place because he'd been a bit weirded out by how Elizabeth looked like she was more Miles' grandmother than mother. It wasn't like Miles was keeping it a secret, but he didn't normally bring up his life before the Lancasters, though he had mentioned, very shortly, that he had been in a home and had known people who had been abused when he'd been scared that Trent might be abused.

Trent realized he didn't actually know anything about Miles, before he was adopted or even now. Most of what they did together was something that Miles was just along for the ride on, though if he didn't seem to like it he'd make a face or roll his eyes, like with the alcohol. Though even with that he'd had at least half a can when Jason had groped him, not nearly enough to do anything, but alcohol nonetheless. Trent could only assume Miles enjoyed most of the stuff they did too then, since the scrawny blonde wasn't against voicing his displeasure on anything yet.

Trent knew that Miles was friends with Sam, that Miles liked dogs, he was up for most of the things the jocks liked to do even if he was a lot less physical about it, he liked musicals if his love of RENT was anything to go by, he was amazing in school, he looked surprisingly good dressed as a girl, he knew how to cook, knew how to drive, that he was adopted, and that he knew people who had been abused. He'd seen Miles annoyed, but he'd never really seen him upset or angry. He had no idea if Miles had been abused or not, he didn't think so because Miles had never said that he was when he was worried about Trent being abused, but then again that wasn't something someone would want to talk about.

All in all it was a pathetically small number of things that he actually knew about Miles, and he actually wanted to know more. How long had they been going to school together before Trent had even realized he was there? How long before it took Trent to recognize his last name, but only in conjunction with Sam's? It had barely taken them a week to become friends once they started actually talking. Miles was pretty cool when Trent wasn't loping him in with the rest of the background fuzz of highschoolers he didn't care about.

"Just because you're adopted? That's really…" Trent didn't even know what to say.

Miles shrugged, staring out the window. "She's convinced that someone like me would never turn out right, doesn't matter how we ended up in the system in the first place. Parents could have been murdered and we could be the next Batman, but she'll always be convinced I'm doing drugs and having wild parties. Doesn't matter how good my grades are or if I become President someone like her. Mom says she's always been very… unlikable, never wanted them to adopt anyone older than three to four."

"Why did Lizzie and Bob adopt you? If that's not prying, I mean, or if you just don't want to say, or if it's like personal or something." As soon as it came out of his mouth Trent felt stupid for asking, even if he did want to know. He just didn't want to make Miles uncomfortable, he was trying to walk on those proverbial eggshells, except he was more used to stomping around.

"It is hilarious to watch you struggle," Miles smirked at him, and Trent glared at him briefly. Of course Miles would catch on that Trent wanted to be gentle, but that was like asking King Kong to not squash a puppy who ran under his foot. "Something to do with Mom's uterus, she wasn't able to, so they decided to adopt. They just also decided to wait a few years so they had a lot of extra money if anything happened. They were aiming for someone younger than me, and I don't think they planned on getting a dog as a package deal, but I'm what they got."

"You mean Mason?"

Miles nodded, "Back when he wasn't a huge fat ass, just a little puppy. Big Pete was the one who found him, but we weren't allowed anything bigger than a hamster, and Pete's asthma acted up with the pet dander, anyway. Pete and I were going to tell so he could actually be given a proper home, but Claire fell in love with him and demanded we keep him, so we made him a little dog house about half a mile away from the home and gave him our food. Mom and Dad picked a day where all three of us were covered in mud because Mason had freaked during his bath, and I was getting chewed out for my troublemaking."

"_You_ a troublemaker? Nuh-uh, I don't see that at all."

"Well, I wouldn't say I was placing whoopee cushions under someone's seat…" A pointed look, because both Trent and Jason had did this to Miles for an entire day just for the hell of it. "But I did do some pretty stupid things that if Mom ever found out about I'd never be allowed to leave the house again."

Trent smirked, "So that means you're going to tell me, right?"

"Only because I'm half afraid of what you'd decide to do to torture it out of me," Miles replied dryly, though he was grinning. "Probably the stupidest was when I went train hopping, just because of how dangerous it was."

"You went train hopping?"

"To impress a girl, too."

"And I thought I was bad."

"Are you kidding? Your pick up lines are the worst I've ever heard!"

"You better back the fuck up 'fore I start to think you're the exact opposite of Einstein."

They continued to bicker lightly back and forth as Trent drove through town, nearing the railroad tracks. Trent got an idea, a story his mom had told him when he was in middle school about the tracks. He pulled up on the tracks, stopping just so they were right in the middle of them, and turned off his truck, putting it in neutral. He took the keys out of the ignition and put them in his lap.

* * *

Chromia's life had fallen into a nice sort of routine. After years of fighting it was nice to just relax and do menial things, like driving Trent places. He most often went to school; something Chromia spent the entire day researching while stuck in the parking lot waiting for him to get out, his house, or one of the other boy's houses. The lake and shopping centers were occasionally thrown in, but usually Chromia knew what to expect.

It had taken Chromia a few days, but she had eventually figured out that Hook had put a cloaking device on her, effectively smothering her Autobot signal, and disrupting any frequencies she should have been able to pick up but couldn't because of the device. She had been devastated when she'd figured it out, because she knew for a fact that one of her faction was stationed in Tranquility as a Guardian to an organic, as described by Optimus in his message. They could be sitting side by side in traffic and Chromia would have no idea, nor would the other Autobot. At first she thought she could look at familiar paintjobs, but then realized that with so many cars a lot of paint jobs, even unusual ones, repeated themselves, and that just made her more upset. She couldn't remove the device herself even with pain receptors off, it was somewhere in her processor, and only a skilled medic would have any luck. That meant she'd have to wait until the Autobot stationed in Tranquility showed himself, or a Decepticon showed up.

She'd gotten over her small bout of depression by focusing on her two favorite organics. Trent was a natural for that position, seeing as he was the one who 'owned' her. Then the other was Miles, inside of her almost as much as Trent was. She knew the teen could drive, but he didn't have his own car or an extra car for use at home like most of the other organics in their group she'd come to know. Without even noticing her Guardian protocols had switched on, and she'd quickly come to see both boys as her charges. But besides a cold there hadn't been anything to protect them from.

And as for playing matchmaker to help them get together, Chromia was confused. Trent had certainly shown an interest on Halloween night, but nothing like it since. She fell back to the internet, her only source of information, and found out a good few things that could put a damper in them getting together. It disappointed Chromia a bit, she thought they'd look adorable together, and they balanced each other out quite nicely in her opinion, like she and Ironhide did.

Apparently same sex couples were a huge taboo on Earth, even though there was starting to be a big buildup in the support of homosexuals. Cybertron had never had that issue, mainly because there was no real difference between a femme and a mech, and that the femmes were so greatly outnumbered by mechs that it was rare for a mech to take a femme partner at all. Femmes were rarely sparked, only different because Primus had blessed them with the ability to carry a tiny spark within their own spark chamber. However if a femme was born to a femme, then that femme was unable to have Sparklings through her own way, needing to rely on the Allspark for one.

Through her research Chromia eventually began to fear that it was only because Miles was dressed as an organic femme that Trent had shown an interest at all, because every other sign showed he was straight. She hoped for bisexual at the least, though she had no idea what Miles identified as. Trent had stopped to get her washed by a bunch of teenage girls skimpily clad to attract more customers, and though Trent had certainly been very focused on them, Miles had paid them little mind. But he'd never shown a spike of arousal for a male, either. Maybe he was just better at controlling himself than Trent, or maybe he was just what the internet called 'asexual'.

Chromia didn't really know all that much about him, which was why she was ecstatic today. Normally her teens went to Miles' house so Miles could tutor Trent in math, but today someone Miles referred to as 'Aunt Lucy' was there. She hadn't needed to scan Miles to know that it instantly put him in a bad mood, and two minutes in the organic femme's presence she could see why. Even Trent reacted badly to her, leaving as quickly as possible.

When Miles told Trent why the Lucy organic acted like that, Chromia had needed to look up what the term adopted meant. She'd needed to look a little deeper into that to find out what he had meant even with a definition, because on Cybertron the Creators formed a bond with their Sparkling. She'd never heard of an abuse story in her life, and while Sparklings could be adopted it was only because something had happened to their Creators.

As she saw Miles as her charge it was only natural she grew angry once she'd found out what she needed, and at the possibilities of why Miles might have needed adopted in the first place. She almost wished Trent would ask why he had needed adopted just so she could know, but even she realized that it could be a sensitive subject and could upset Miles. At least she could be happy with the fact that Trent was getting to know Miles better, and she was too.

Not even a few minutes later and Trent was stopping her over a set of train. She was confused until he started to talk.

"_Back in the '50s there was a school bus, packed with kids, coming back from a field trip. It broke down on the road back there for about an hour, the bus driver doing his best to get it started again because no mechanic could make it out for three hours at the most. He got it working and drove up here, the lights signaling an oncoming train flashing, but the dividers not working. He didn't want to risk stopping so he tried to drive on through, but the bus stopped again, right in the middle. The bus was hit, and now they say if you park here and turn your car off, leaving it in neutral, the ghosts of the little children will push you off to safety._"

She could feel Miles shift a bit in his seat, "_October's over, Trent. It's a bit late for ghost stories._"

"_Oh, c'mon!_" Trent chuckled a bit, "_What's the harm in sitting here to see?_"

She could feel Miles draw nonsense patterns on her interior, knowing he was nervous, but not enough to argue and try to get Trent to drive on. Chromia did a quick scan of the surrounding area, not picking up any weird energy that would indicate a dead organic hanging around, but even Cybertron had ghost stories. Had she been in bipedal mode she would have smirked, but as it was she just gave a mental 'woo-hoo', deciding to have fun with her organics. She started to roll forward slowly, careful not to give a loud engine rev like she was used to by now.

"_Trent, stop it!_"

"_It's not me, I swear! The keys aren't even in the ignition!_"

Had Chromia not been attempting to hide herself, she would have been laughing out loud.

* * *

Bumblebee was relieved. After some talking with Ratchet they finally figured out a way to explain Bumblebee's presence in Sam's room as just a Halloween prank, one that allowed Bumblebee to still 'meet' Miles in his holoform. They used the watch Sam had bought to keep track of time, because although he had a phone Bumblebee kept track of just when the teen used it and claimed to be checking the time, which was usually during class when he was bored. Ratchet installed an almost microscopic holographic projector, making Sam promise to spill something on it to ruin it as soon as he used it to show Miles if the other boy just didn't take Sam's word at face value.

And Miles hadn't exactly not believed Sam, but by the look on his face he wasn't exactly believing him either, so it had been a nice safe back up for Sam to use, saying the image was just a recording of a friend from the government that Miles had yet to meet, but one who Sam would introduce him to soon.

This had been explained at Sam's house, Miles having come over to meet up with him and Mikaela so they could all go see a movie together. Now Sam was in Bumblebee's driver's seat, pretending to drive, with Mikaela beside him and Miles in the back seat.

"So if it had been some evil ghost you would have just ran and left me to die?" Sam gasped in mock affront, "Some friend you are!"

"Oh, this from Mr. Scare-the-crap-out-of-my-friend?" Mikaela asked with a snort, glancing in the rearview mirror at Miles with a grin. "Pot, meet kettle."

Miles snickered before glancing out his window and realizing where they were. "Could we not go over the tracks?"

"What?" Sam asked in mild surprise, and from the light press on his brake Bumblebee took the cue to slow down. "Why?"

"Oh, come on, is that this stupid ghost story?" Mikaela rolled her eyes, knowing almost immediately what Miles was probably going on about. It had been extremely popular last year among the girls of their highschool.

"Yes, but in my defense, we sat there with the truck off _and_ keys out of the engine! It still rolled off the tracks! I went home and did some research and apparently it might just be this little slant thing going on that moves the car when in neutral, but it was still freaky as hell…"

Bumblebee didn't need the gentle press on his brakes again to know that Sam would want him to stop over the tracks, dutifully stopping his engine when Sam turned the key and took it out of the ignition, putting him in neutral. Most of the stuff in his interior was just for show, though he had wired it so he could move his gearshift without human aid. The brake and gas pedal were helpful when an organic like Sam was inside of him, a light tap indicating what the organic wanted if Bumblebee was playing non-sentient car. It would be stupid, however, to have any of it actually affected how he drove if Bumblebee didn't want it to. The last thing they needed was an accident because Sam jerked the gearshift into neutral instead of drive. Bumblebee didn't need the key in his ignition to get started, either.

"Well, that was a truck, right? This one should weigh differently. If it doesn't roll off then for sure there's no ghosts, right?" Sam suggested helpfully, having heard the story for himself, though he couldn't quite remember from whom or when.

"I guess…" Miles sounded reluctant to agree, "But it needs to be in neutral, not park. If it's in park and moves then it really would be ghosts."

That more than anything decided Bumblebee's next actions, since the gearshift really was just for show. The Scout decided to have some fun at Miles' expense before Sam could manage to switch his gearshift to the proper settings.

* * *

"I really can't believe you, Bumblebee." Mikaela scolded, arms crossed over her chest.

"Now, really, how was I supposed to know that little femme youngling would come running through?" Bumblebee asked, trying to exude an air of innocence.

Mikaela glared at his radio, "Oh, you couldn't have known that, since I know you're not stupid enough to do a holo of one just to scare Miles. That, unfortunately, was just incredibly good timing. But we both know fully well it was all you when rolling off the tracks."

Bumblebee sunk low on his shocks with a small chuckle, and the two sat in silence for a moment while Mikaela fumed, both keeping an eye out for the wayward teens who had long since made it far away from the Camaro and the girl sitting within it.

"I still do not know why Sam ran, too." Bumblebee eventually said.

"Something to do with the fact that he's a complete pussy, especially when he has someone else to rebound his fear off of, in this case Miles, and then the little girl that just seemed to cement the fact that there are spooky ghosts haunting these tracks."

Bumblebee warbled a confused note, and Mikaela groaned.

It really had been too perfect, Bumblebee rolling off the tracks slowly even while his gearshift gave all indications that he should be parked, especially with no keys in him. Miles had immediately hopped out, determined to prove to himself that it really was somehow just the way the pavement was laid out, moving a car no matter how it sat on it off of the tracks, and Sam had gotten out with him, almost as nervous as his blonde friend. Sam knew what Bumblebee was, but had yet to figure out his gearshift was just for show, and despite the fact that Sam _knew_ what Bumblebee was, it just wasn't registering that he could move even while he was supposed to be parked. And then the little girl had appeared, giggling and skipping along the train tracks, completely oblivious to the two teenage males and one teenage female staring at her with wide eyes. Sam and Miles had looked at each other, before nodding as some sort of agreement came about without needing said, both turning around and walking away surprisingly calmly.

"He's naïve, Bee. And I'm not going to have you ruin that."

Having the Autobots as friends was great, and for one of them maybe even more than friends, but it also meant giving up part of the childhood that neither Sam nor Mikaela had grown out of just yet. They were still young, not even adults by their own species' standards, and how were they to deal with a war that wasn't their own? But then again Bumblebee's age, when made equivalent to human terms, just barely put him at eighteen. The Scout was almost as young as they were, figuratively speaking, and had somehow dealt with the loss while still retaining some innocence, by some miracle. Mikaela was sure they had Ratchet, Optimus, and Ironhide to thank for that.

Bumblebee just gave out another questioning warble, completely missing the warning behind Mikaela's words. The girl had to wonder if even Bumblebee realized his feelings yet, or if she was stuck dealing with idiots in both species.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: **And a new chapter! Next chapter is when I finally plan to bring in the whole finding-out-about-aliens thing, as well as maybe some Trent/Miles. This chapter I mainly wanted to get through why Trent and Sam dislike each other, what happened to Miles to get him adopted, and then some other random crap. Might be boring.  
**Reviews: **Thanks to all who reviewed!

_**Chapter 6**_

* * *

The two were in Trent's truck at a red-light the jock driving them to Wal-Mart so they could pick up a few extra things for dinner. Trent, Jason, Scott, Nick, and Colin has all come in to the Lancaster household that morning early on, and had practically cleaned them out of everything. Elizabeth's meals were just too wonderful, and she did so enjoy cooking them. Miles was talking to Trent about what had freaked him out on Halloween night, and how Sam's car had slid off the tracks too. He'd moved on to how Sam's old Camaro and the new one had exactly the same radio problem when he realized Trent was no longer paying attention.

"-and even though it was a new car it still had the same…" Miles didn't continue, turning hazel eyes on to Trent and narrowing them. "Trent!"

The jock had gotten distracted by two girls as they walked by, one in a skirt just shy of being too short and legs that just kept going, with long blonde hair and big blue eyes. New to town, or visiting, because he would have definitely remembered her. He leaned slightly out of the window, arm flexing a bit as he grinned, to be polite, of course.

"What?" Trent asked, trying not to sound annoyed. She'd just smiled back at him, too!

Miles glared, "She's not interested, so you may as well stop flexing. You look like an idiot."

"She is too intere-" A quick glance back revealed that Miles was most likely right, unless the hottie was bisexual and up for a three way. Trent watched her peck the other girl on the lips with mild interest, "That's so hot."

"Ugh, you and Sam are just alike!" Miles snapped in disgust, "First pretty thing you see and it's no use talking to either of you."

Trent puffed up a bit at that, hitting the gas as soon as the light turned green. "Don't compare me to Witwicky. Just because we both have normal sex drives while you have none-"

"Don't be stupid, I have a sex drive just as much as either of you. I'm just able to content myself to my hand until I find the right person."

"Oh, don't tell me you're into that 'one' bull shit. You are _such_ a girl."

Miles huffed a bit, "Have you been happy with the way any of your 'relationships' have turned out until now?"

"Well…" Trent had to think for a minute, and then chose to not say anything. Miles didn't need to know he was right, because most of the jock's relationships relied on sexual attraction, mutual popularity, and getting off on whatever fumbling around they could do together. It usually ended when the attraction fizzled out, or one of them said something to piss the other off. Usually he was the one pissing the other off; he just wasn't that good with girls.

"I'm taking that well as an I'm right," Miles bothered to glance at the jock now that he was winning, "So, yes, I believe there's only one person for us in our lives, be it heterosexual or homosexual like those two girls."

"That's all well and good, but say I find that person and I lose them?" Trent really would have preferred just not having the mini-argument or whatever the hell it was, but he was already in it.

"Then you might lose yourself with them."

"Speaking from experience?" Trent asked with a snort.

"I've seen it before, yeah."

"Oh come on, don't be stupid!" Trent snorted now, "What you saw was someone unable to get over themselves and move on. Nut up and shut up or cry a fucking river, but move the fuck on and get a life. You shoulda told them to just get over themselves and move on with their life."

"I tried, but they didn't listen."

"Guess you weren't as close to them as you thought then, huh?" Trent asked sarcastically, "They woulda listened to you otherwi-"

"I was her son." Miles cut in dryly, "I would have liked to think, and still would, that we were pretty damned close."

Trent realized that he had somehow stepped into a big pile of oh fuck, and wasn't entirely certain how to make himself backtrack. So he said the only thing he could think of.

"Fuck."

Miles snorted, "I win by default."

"Nuh-uh, fuck that!" Trent was relieved that Miles wasn't taking it the wrong way. It was hard to avoid what you didn't know, and the jock was never one to walk on egg shells around others. He hid that relief behind his annoyance, "You can't always win with the adopted card!"

"But I was adopted!" Miles had to fight to put on an over exaggerated pout, but he won, and got a punch in the shoulder for his efforts. "Ow!"

"Keep it up and I'll toss you out of this truck." Trent huffed, but the jock was hiding a grin, and Miles grinned back at him. "Or I'll just tie you up and hide you in the back."

"Kidnapping at such a young age?"

"Not any different than what we do every other weekend." Trent pointed out, making Miles laugh. "Speaking of weekends; next weekend we're taking a camping trip. Wanna come?"

"Where is it?" Miles asked.

"Up in the woods, a campsite where you set up on your own. We always get this spot near a lake and you can go fishing and shit, it's great. Of course there's nearby civilization. Minigolf, pizza, etc."

"If you can convince Mom, then that sounds cool."

* * *

Chromia settled low on her shocks, waiting patiently for her boys to finish up. It was almost odd in how short of a time she'd come to think of Miles and Trent as such, and neither even knew, but that had a lot to do with Guardian protocols. And the fact that they were her two favorite organics of the human species. They'd both come out of the local gathering place, and Miles was loading what groceries they had gotten in her back seat.

"_Why do I have to help, again?_" Trent complained, even though Miles was the one loading everything.

"_You're the one eating all our food whenever you stay over for the day, that's why._" Miles had some exasperation in his voice, and Chromia was amused by it, though Trent wasn't. Miles finished loading the stuff up in her back seat then shut her door, turning around only for his attention to be stolen. "_Hey, that's Sam's car._"

"_Ugh. I don't care about Witwicky._"

Trent had been trying to tone down how much he pissed Miles off since his slip up in the car, though she had been quite happy for it. Now she knew even more about one of the organics she saw as her charge, and in a way she could almost understand how Miles' mother had reacted, from what she had taken of it. She didn't know what she would have done if she had ever lost Ironhide and managed to survive it.

But as of yet Chromia had been unable to figure out why Trent didn't like this Witwicky, or the one Miles called Sam, and she knew Miles was just as confused by it as she was. Apparently Miles and this Witwicky were close.

"_Oh, shut up._" Miles didn't have to be facing Trent for Chromia to know he rolled his eyes, "_It's his mother, Judy. And it's the guy who scared the crap out of me on Halloween._"

Trent propped himself on the top of her hood to look at what Miles was talking about, "_Military looking guy? He's the reason you were running like Satan asked you to be-"_

Trent cut himself off, and she could feel him tense up against her. Curious, Chromia turned her attention to the car the two were looking at, a 2009 yellow Camaro with black racing stripes, and only noticed the woman that Miles had mentioned. There was no guy in sight of the mother, or in the Camaro itself.

"_Did…_" The jock trailed off, "_Did he just disappear?_"

"_Yeah… It's some really complicated government thing that does like holographs, what Sam used to scare me with on Halloween…_" Miles sounded slightly unsure, "_Don't know why Judy would be using it, especially at a Wal-Mart, and Sam said he broke it…_"

Chromia redoubled her attention on the innocent looking Camaro, racking her memory banks for a familiar paintjob. She knew that humans had no such advanced 'holographic' imagery like Miles had said, or had talked about when he'd told Trent exactly why he'd been running on Halloween. Bumblebee, the young Scout, had a similar paint-job back on Cybertron, and he was one of the ones Optimus had mentioned in his message. She felt her spark soar; Bumblebee did seem like one who would love Earth, and might even take on an organic as a charge.

If the cloaking device that Hook put on her ended up malfunctioning somehow she could be targeted by the 'cons, or even worse, if he somehow worked it so that when it did malfunction she showed as a Decepticon, she could be targeted by her Autobots. But that didn't stop her from hoping and planning, trying to figure out how she could get close enough to see if this really was one of her Autobots.

During a war, hope was the one thing that could make or break a femme or mech. Megatron was dead, but she knew that didn't mean they were safe from attacking Decepticons. Hope was one of the few things that had kept her going, she was a strong femme, and stubborn, too. She knew if she went down that her sparkmate, as strong as he was, would probably end up following. It was rare for one sparkmate to survive if another died, and during a war that was the last thing they needed.

And if it was Bumblebee, or any other Autobot, she could reveal herself to him privately. Then she could reveal herself to her organics, and actually spend time with them while they know it. But even more important than that would be seeing her sparkmate again, her Ironhide. Their bond was so strained that even on the same planet she wouldn't be able to locate him unless he was dying. They'd need to merge to right it, and she couldn't wait.

* * *

They were just sitting in Miles room with no real purpose, waiting for Elizabeth to finish cooking dinner. Report cards had just come out and the jock wasn't in danger of failing math anymore, but he had come over to show off to Miles and get a cautionary check on his math just to start off the new nine weeks right. Scott and the others had followed the jock, the group sharing their grades with one another, but they had left not long before Trent and Miles had returned from Wal-Mart.

Miles was typing out an English paper that had a minimum of ten pages allowed. The paper was on an author of their choice who they found inspirational, and he had chosen Dave Pelzer. As interesting as Dave Pelzer was, Miles was fairly sure his brain was just going to stop working if he had to put it through any of _A Child Called It_ again. He could only thank God that Trent had arrived after he had stopped crying, because he really should have chosen a happier author. The only problem was that Trent kept flicking rubber bands at him and distracting him. The jock was sat on Miles bed as he alternated between doing his homework and flicking Miles with a rubber band until the scrawnier blonde finally had enough and caught it, turning to look at him.

"So," Miles let the rubber band fall to the floor, rolling his eyes at Trent's annoyed expression. "Why do you hate Sam?"

"If I answer this then you gotta answer something personal for me," Trent said, flopping back on Miles' bed.

"_Personal_?" Miles repeated, raising an eyebrow. "So something really did happen between you two?"

"It's… stupid."

"I've come to expect that from you already."

Trent shot Miles a glare, "Very funny. Fucking Witwicky stole my mint condition shiny Charizard card, so I pushed him down the slide and he got the teacher to yell at me."

Miles had thought that any rivalry between the two, originally, had all been in Sam's head and Trent's hate had stemmed from Sam stealing Mikaela away from him. It hadn't taken him long to find out there was more to it than that on Trent's part, though he'd already known that Sam had always hated the jock. And now he had the truth behind it all.

A Charizard card. A Pokemon card started the Demarco-Witwicky rivalry that lasted from elementary to high school, mainly one sided since as far as he knew Trent never really even acknowledged Sam that whole time, outside the usually snide jock comments. To make it worse, Miles knew exactly what Trent was talking about.

"Oh, God…" Miles had to bite his lip, covering his mouth with a hand to stifle a few snickers.

"You fucking laugh and I'll punch you in the face, Lancaster." Trent growled in warning, but Miles waved him off.

"No, it's just, while that is really fucking funny; Sam has no idea that it was _your_ Charizard!" He was still trying not to laugh, but couldn't stop the grin on his face. "He'd lost his, and he thought that yours was his, because it was out in the open or something, right? You weren't near it to say anything so he took it as his, thinking it was, and you just never said anything! I didn't even know you were there!"

"JZ saw him take it…" Trent grumbled, glaring at Miles as he shook.

"So then you pushed him down a slide?" Miles snickered, "You are such a bastard, even back in your wittle Demarco days."

"Shut your face."

"What're you gonna do, push me down a slide?" Miles asked sarcastically, too busy trying to not laugh to care when Trent didn't respond to it.

Trent waited until he was sure Miles was done laughing, "So now it's your turn."

"And what would you know of me?" Miles asked, trying to return his attention to his paper so he could get it done.

"That thing you said in the car, is that why you had to be adopted?"

Miles nearly froze, caught off guard by the question. It wasn't like Trent tried to avoid the topic; they'd just never really had a reason to bring it up before. The only time Miles did was to play the 'adopted card', as Trent put it, because he knew it would either get the jock to shut up, feel guilty, or a combination of the both that would piss Trent off. Otherwise it wasn't a topic he really liked to freely discuss.

"I haven't even talked to Sam about this stuff, DeMarco." Miles said finally, returning to writing his paper. He could practically feel Trent staring at him now, "So this is one thing you can actually know you hold over him."

"I already knew I was better than him, good to know that you agree that I'm more important, though."

Miles snorted, "Keep telling yourself that. …But to answer your question, yes, essentially. My biological father was an army man, and he died in service. Mom just lost it; she just couldn't handle the news. She did alright for a while, but she did start bringing home a bunch of random guys and drinking at night. I guess maybe she just wanted to forget for a while, or use somebody else to get back who she lost, but either way… One of her 'boyfriends' ended up getting her on drugs. That was pretty much when I knew something had to be done, but I just couldn't. I was old enough to understand that I'd be taken away from her, so I never said anything to anyone, and she eventually ended up overdosing. She's alive, thank God, but that was that. No one in the family was able to support me at the time, so I was put in the home instead."

"Do you see her at all? Talk to her?" Trent asked before he could stop himself.

"No. A relative sends me a letter on her every couple of months, but she refuses to have anything to do with me. I look too much like my father." Miles said shortly, glancing at Trent and deciding to lighten it up a little. "There was one upside to everything though: I'm no longer known as Milton."

"Milton?" Trent laughed.

"Yup." Miles grinned, not offended in the least. He'd always despised his old name. Milton Jackson Kirby. He was more than happy to be Miles Jackson Lancaster, now. "Hated it, so I had Mom change it."

"I don't know, Milton's kind of cute."

"Trent…"

"What?"

"Don't you dare…"

"Whatever do you mean, _Milton_?"

"I hate you."


End file.
